La Bella y la Bestia
by blacksand1
Summary: Orihime is a small town beauty who longs for adventure. When her brother is taken prisoner by a beast, she gets just that. GrimmHime, onesided Ichihime, YoruichiUrahara, NnoiNeliel, others
1. Little Town

_*~*~*_

_Once upon a time, in a faraway land, a young prince lived in a shining castle. Although he had everything his heart desired, the prince was spoiled, selfish, and unkind._

_But, one winter's night, an old beggar woman came to the castle and offered him a single rose in return for shelter from the bitter cold. Repulsed by her haggard appearance, the prince sneered at the gift and turned the old woman away. But she warned him not to be deceived by appearances, for true beauty is found within._

_And when he dismissed her again, the old woman's ugliness melted away to reveal a beautiful enchantress. The prince tried to apologize, but it was too late, for she had seen that he held no love in his heart and as punishment turned him into a hideous beast and placed a powerful spell on the castle and all who lived there._

_Ashamed by his monstrous form, the beast concealed himself inside his castle, with a magic mirror as his only window to the outside world. The rose the enchantress had offered was truly an enchanted rose, which would bloom until his twenty-first year. If he could learn to love another and earn their love in return, the spell would be broken. If not, he would die and his servants would forever be as they are._

_As the years passed, he fell into despair and lost all hope. For who could EVER learn to love a beast?_

_*~*~*_

_1890_

Morning came to a small Japanese village nestled within the foothills of a tall mountain. Lush green forests surrounded the lonely village and a small stream ran past it, making it a picturesque little settlement. This little town was called Karakura. As the townsfolk started to wake up, a young girl was walking down the short path from her home on the outskirts of the village.

It would be no stretch to say that this girl was probably the most beautiful girl in Karakura, though she would immediately deny that and rattle off seven hundred reasons why she was NOT the most beautiful girl in Karakura if you brought that up to her. Most would think of this as bashful behavior until they realized she truly _wasn't_ aware of her beauty. The girl had long orange hair kept away from her face with two light blue hairpins shaped like flowers, letting the world see her large gray eyes. She was quite well endowed and had a graceful figure like that of a princess or a noble.

She wore a simple light green yukata, the only really fancy thing about it being the darker green obi that was made from a much finer fabric than her yukata. Though the weather was getting colder (but snow had not come to the village yet), the girl STILL wore a yukata. Well, she _was_ rather eccentric sometimes... In one hand she held a book and in the other a basket. She wasn't really planning to do much in town today so, consequently, she hadn't brought much. When she finally crossed the invisible threshold between the path to her home and the 'entrance' to the village, nearly everyone had woken up. As she walked through the street some people would stop to say 'Good Morning, Orihime,' and she would reply with a bright smile and a 'Good Morning' in return. For that was her name, Orihime Inoue.

She looked over the small amounts of hustle and bustle in her small village with a smile that was both a fond one and a somewhat weary one. She did like this place, but the monotony of living in a small town her whole life was catching up to her. Orihime knew that she probably wouldn't find a more exciting life- because that just doesn't happen in the real world- but it didn't hurt to dream... Or read fantastic stories whilst being gossiped about for just this.

It was true, Orihime Inoue was seen as odd and peculiar not just because of her eccentric personality and strange sense of taste, but also because she was the only woman in town who read like she did. But she didn't really care about any of that, at least not right now. Orihime walked a little ways more- saying some more hello's and having a 'conversation' with the town's baker who didn't really care about what she was doing but had asked her anyways- and her smile brightened when she came to the book shop she so loved.

"Good morning Ukitake-san!" chirped Orihime as she walked into the store. Orihime frequented this store and was good friends with the owner. The white haired bookkeeper smiled at her kindly and replied,

"Good morning to you too Orihime-chan."

"I'm here to return the book I borrowed," stated Orihime, closing the distance between them and handing him said book. Ukitake raised a black eyebrow, still smiling, and wondered,

"Finished already?"

"I couldn't put it down," replied Orihime as she gravitated over to the shelves, "Do you have anything new?"

"Ha ha, not since yesterday," answered Ukitake with a small chuckle. Orihime shrugged a little and said,

"That's okay, I'll just borrow... this one." With that Orihime decisively plucked a thick volume with a blue hardback cover from a shelf that she had to stand on tiptoes to reach. Ukitake's other eyebrow went up and he noted,

"You've read that one twice, Orihime-chan."

"Ha ha, what can I say? It's my favorite..." laughed Orihime, drifting into a daydream right there about the story's events. Suddenly she yelled while flailing her arms,

"OH NO LOOK OUT BEHIND YOU!!! HE HAS A SPEAR!!" Ukitake laughed himself and said,

"If you like it _that _much Orihime-chan you might as well keep it." Orihime came back to reality upon hearing that and she stammered,

"B-But Ukitake-san-"

"I insist. You're the best business I get anyways," he stated firmly, while still smiling at her. Orihime beamed at him and exclaimed,

"Thank you so much Ukitake-san!" Just as she was heading out the door Ukitake asked,

"Is Sora going out to the city to look for work again?" Orihime blinked at him in surprise before he explained,

"You always get extra food and other things before he leaves and I noticed you brought a bigger basket than normal..." Orihime blushed a bit and smiled nervously before she replied,

"Yeah, he is." With that, she bolted from the bookshop. She never liked talking about the various trips her brother would take to find work in the city, mostly because she didn't like them herself. She worried about her older brother- the only family she had- like crazy when he was gone and, though it was rather selfish, got very lonely without him.

"I'll have to apologize to Ukitake-san for being rude like that..." she murmured before opening her book and beginning to read. Though the girl was rather scatter-brained at times, Orihime had no trouble walking and reading. YEARS of practice had helped her with this. Around Orihime the day really got into full swing, more people filling the streets and more people with nothing better to do gossiping about her. Even when she stopped at various shops to pick up food and things she'd need while her brother was away, Orihime didn't really notice that so many people were out and about at the moment.

At about ten o'clock, Orihime had gotten everything she needed and was going to loop back around at the town's central square(since continuing on straight would lead her out of Karakura), but she had come to her favorite part in the book. She smiled fondly at its pages and started walking slower and slower until she had stopped. This part always seemed to have that effect on her. She was about to get lost in the literature when she heard a small sound. Orihime peered curiously down at her feet as she pulled her book close to her chest, then smiled at what she saw. A tiny kitten was sitting at her feet and looking up at her, probably confused as to why she had just stopped.

"Oh, ha ha, hello there," said Orihime, crouching down at the cat's level and propping the book up on the ground so that the feline could 'read' it, "You're wondering why I stopped, huh? Well, this book I'm reading here, I just got to my favorite part. See, the girl meets the prince charming character, but she doesn't know it's him. She DOES find out later though. Cool huh?" The kitten blinked at her, meowed in an odd tone for a cat, and walked around her.

"Aww, not even kittens like to read," sighed Orihime with a smile. She then went back to reading and walking as she made her way back home from the square.

Right at that moment, two men- one of which turning most of the heads in the square- entered the square from the road beyond the village. The taller one had short orange hair, brown eyes, had a large sword slung over his shoulder and was grinning like an arrogant fool. For that is what Ichigo Kurosaki- underneath his physical prowess and good looks- truly was. The shorter one had longer brown hair and was grinning too, but in a more idiotic fashion. Well, Keigo Asano never had been known for being smart, just for being a toady to Ichigo. Keigo currently had a large deer carcass that Ichigo had decapitated slung over his shoulders(and it was causing his shoulders to hate him forever, but he didn't care), blabbering a mile a minute,

"Whoa Ichigo-san, you killed that one in a flash! And it was big old brute too! There's no better hunter in the world than you Ichigo-san!"

"I know," responded Ichigo, his arrogant grin growing wider.

"There's no beast anywhere that stands a chance against you! And no girl either," continued Keigo, chuckling as a few girls swooned right on cue.

"Exactly, and I'm going after that one," declared Ichigo, bringing Keigo closer to him via headlock and pointing down the street with his sword at Orihime. Keigo's eyes widened and he wondered,

"Sora Inoue's sister?"

"That's right! And I'm going to marry her," purred Ichigo, leering at the red headed girl as she stopped to speak with someone.

"But she's-" began Keigo, before Ichigo cut him off with,

"The most beautiful girl in Karakura."

"I know but-"

"THAT makes her the best girl in Karakura. And I deserve _only_ the best," pronounced Ichigo, his grin threatening to split his face in two.

"Of course- I mean- you do, but-" sputtered Keigo, but Ichigo was paying him no heed. Instead, he was trying to find a way through the crowd and in front of Orihime's nose that was currently stuck in her book. The crowd thinned out as Orihime reached the path that led her home, but Ichigo still had to fight his way through clumps of people. When there was no one directly near her, Ichigo walked right in front of Orihime and stabbed his oversized butcher knife of a sword into the ground to get her attention. Orihime jumped and looked up from her book, putting on a polite smile when she noticed Ichigo's smirking face.

"Hey there, Orihime-_chan_," purred Ichigo, trying to lean in seductively but failing, because Orihime had walked around him.

"Good morning Kurosaki-san," she replied. She grimaced as he put an arm around her shoulder and drawled,

"Oh Orihime-chan, just call me Ichigo-kun! Kurosaki-san is too _polite._" Orihime shrunk away from Ichigo and muttered,

"I'd rather not, Kurosaki-san. I for one value politeness." Suddenly, Ichigo swiped Orihime's book from her hands and flipped through the pages with a confused look.

"Kurosaki-san may I have my book back please?" asked Orihime, now getting a little annoyed with the swordsman.

"How can you read this? It's boring!" proclaimed Ichigo with disgust. Orihime smirked, folded her arms over her impressive chest and remarked,

"Maybe to you, but I for one find it interesting." Ichigo then grinned at her in a fashion he thought would show off his awesome but instead just made him look creepy. He tossed Orihime's book aside- the poor volume landing in a mud puddle- and said as she scurried to retrieve the fallen piece of literature,

"Orihime-chan, you've got to get your head out of these books. A woman should focus on more important things," Ichigo paused and got in the way of Orihime's hand just as she was reaching for her book, then gave her a grin he thought was dashing(making more girls swoon) and finished, "Like me." Orihime frowned up at him and thought,

_And to think I had a crush on this guy when we were younger. _She shook her head, reached around Ichigo's bulky Hakama to grab her book, and Ichigo continued,

"Everyone's saying it! It isn't right for a woman to read! Soon she starts getting ideas and-" he shuddered "-_thinking_." Orihime smirked again and stood up, placing her book in her basket with everything she had bought that day.

"Kurosaki-san, you are such a barbarian," she sighed, wiping the mud off her book using her yukata's long sleeves. She had to stifle a laugh as Ichigo started figuratively glowing with pride and grinned wider.

"Why thank you," he said, slinging his sword over his shoulders again. Orihime's smile disappeared as Ichigo grabbed her around the waist and drawled,

"Orihime-chan, how about we go down to the bar and get some sake?" Orihime winced and ducked away from Ichigo.

"Maybe some other time," she muttered, ignoring Ichigo's fangirl's in the background, whining about her completely logical actions being 'stupid'. Ichigo and Keigo(who had just caught up) frowned at her and Orihime continued,

"Really Kurosaki-san, I can't. My brother's leaving for Kyoto tomorrow and I need to help him pack for the journey. Goodbye." She was about to turn and leave when Keigo laughed and said,

"Ha, not like that'll help. That crazy guy will never find work!" Both Keigo and Ichigo started laughing at this, but Orihime's eyes turned to steel. She gritted her teeth and hissed,

"Keigo-san, I would very much appreciate it if you did not talk about my brother in that way." Ichigo noticed her comment- while Keigo did not- and stopped laughing. He then smacked Keigo on the back of the head with enough force to send him toppling over and drop the decapitated deer.

"Yeah, don't talk about her brother like that!" exclaimed Ichigo hypocritically.

"Sora-niisan tries as hard as he can to get work so that he can support the two of us and he is only a little eccentric. He is NOT crazy! Now if you'll excuse me," Orihime then turned and started over the bridge that let her cross the river and get onto the path to her home. She was only three fourths of the way across when she heard Keigo and Ichigo start laughing at her brother's expense again. She bit her bottom lip and glared at them over her shoulder, but she didn't turn back to give them a tongue-lashing or a physical beating. Orihime was better than that.

She smiled when she reached the small house she and Sora shared and when she opened the screen she called,

"Sora, I'm back!" Immediately their small yellow dog that reminded Orihime more of a lion(she had seen pictures but not the real thing) named Kon came running, yapping excitedly as he jumped up and down, tail wagging with elation. Orihime laughed as she crouched down to pet Kon, and right as she did Sora walked into the room. He smiled at her and said,

"Welcome back Orihime. How was it in town?" Orihime grabbed her basket and walked over to her brother, Kon on her heels as she said,

"Well, Ukitake-san let me keep this book because I like it so much, and Unohana-san gave me some fish without charging me. I talked with a kitten who didn't like my book and," Orihime's face twisted into a grimace before she went on, "Kurosaki-san tried to get me to go have sake with him. And Asano-san started calling you crazy and I almost tried to hurt him, I was so angry with him." Sora smiled and laughed a little, musing,

"I remember when you used to call Ichigo the most handsome and amazing guy you had ever met." Orihime snorted as she put away all the extra things she had bought, then replied,

"Ugh, that was before I realized what he was like, Sora." She paused for a little while before turning to her brother with a conflicted expression.

"Sora, do you think I'm... odd?" she asked.

"My sister? Odd? Of course not! You're better than all those people who gossip about you," responded Sora, putting a reassuring hand on his sister's shoulder. She smiled, but sank down into a sitting position and said,

"Well, I just don't feel like I fit in around here. Except for you, Kon, and Ukitake-san, there's nobody I can really talk with." Sora sat next to her and said,

"One of these days that'll change. I'll finally get some real work in Kyoto and we'll be able to live there. It'll be a whole new life for us Hime-chan, just you wait." Orihime beamed at her brother, the use of her nickname comforting her some, and hugged him before the two of them set to helping Sora pack for the journey to Kyoto. That afternoon, Sora and Kon were ready to leave. Sora had a sack slung over his shoulder of all the things he would need(made out of kimono's the two no longer needed) and Kon was running around Sora's feet in circles, excited for the journey. Sora had been bringing Kon with him whenever he felt really confident about his journey and Kon loved him for it. Sora and Orihime shared a long hug before Sora pulled back, smiled, and said,

"Take care while I'm gone, and make sure the animals are well fed too alright?" Orihime smiled, glanced over to the side of the house where they kept their chickens and their goats for a minute, then nodded and said,

"And you don't get hurt alright?" Sora promised her he wouldn't, turned around and made his way down the path with Kon running ahead. Orihime watched them until she couldn't see them anymore, then went back into the house. She tried to read, but was too busy worrying to concentrate...

_*~*~*_

Sora and Kon had been walking for a few hours now, and were quite convinced that they were lost. Why? Well, they knew for sure that the route to Kyoto didn't cut through a scary-looking forest.

"I think that turning around would be a lost cause by this point, Kon. I can't even remember the road back now," noted Sora, shading his eyes so that he could see further. That was a pointless effort, since there was no sun shining... Kon nodded, the sack that he was currently dragging in his mouth bouncing off the ground as he did. Sora and Kon had agreed to take turns carrying the sack, and it was Kon's turn now. The two of them came to a crossroads, and Sora immediately said,

"We're going right." Kon shook his head with fervor. To the right, the forest became even creepier, fog coming across the path. While on the left, the scene was slightly more optimistic.

"Oh come on Kon, I bet this way is a short-cut! We'll be there in no time!" protested Sora, starting down the right path already. Kon sighed, he couldn't leave Sora out here on his own! Orihime would kill him, even though the girl was a pacifist. Besides, Sora was a little out of it when it came to his mind. He wouldn't last out in a place like this on his own. So, the little lion dog followed him, dragging the sack on purpose and grumbling things in his little dog mind.

But soon his irritation disappeared as he took in his creepy surroundings. There was a creepy looking owl perched on a nearby branch, adding to the scary aesthetics, and not one of the trees had leaves on their branches. Suddenly, Kon jumped as he heard a strange sound. It wasn't the howl of a wolf or the growl of some earthly creature, it was a strange noise that Kon could not describe. Sora was also creeped out by this sound. But both were chilled to the bone by the simple instinctual knowledge that this sound came from a living creature. One they did not know. The sounds started getting louder and more frequent, along with other noises that came from living creatures they knew. The fog also started to thicken and rain clouds started to gather.

"... Maybe we should turn back Kon..." whispered Sora in a voice turned hoarse by fear. Kon immediately turned around and was about to bolt when Sora tripped over the sack and smashed into a tree. Immediately a bunch of creatures that looked like lizards that had died and been reborn into satanic abominations that were supposed to be lizards came scuttling out of the tree and towards Sora and Kon.

The two of them immediately took off running as if the devil herself were chasing them. They kept going strong until they skidded to a halt at a cliff. Sora almost fell victim to forward momentum, but he was able to keep himself from falling, and that took all his focus and attention. He turned to where he thought Kon should be, but instead he saw the little dog halfway down the path, sprinting like hell whilst still keeping the sack in his mouth. Sora stared at the deserter canine in shock until he couldn't see him anymore, and was able to muster the nerve to start walking forwards.

But he soon started sprinting in the first direction he deemed safe when the chilling sound came back and nightmarish abominations with masked faces and holes in their chests appeared in the trees, coming towards him. Sora ran for his life through the trees, not caring that the branches were ripping his kimono and shallowly cutting his skin, drawing blood from him. All that mattered was getting away from those monsters and staying alive. He had a pretty good lead on them until he fell down a downward slope he hadn't been expecting, rolled a little bit and smashed into a gate.

He regained his bearings quickly and saw that the monsters were gaining on him, so Sora simply crashed through the gates and slammed them behind him. He had stumbled as he did so, due to still being disoriented, and had lost one of his sandals while bursting through the gate. The monsters continued to howl and roar behind the gate, but it seemed as if they could not get past it. Sora caught his breath before looking across the bridge he was currently on and gasped at what he saw.

Before Sora Inoue in the rain that had just started was a gigantic castle. Its architecture was not Japanese, oddly enough. The castle was European, which added to the fear it instilled in Sora with it's hideous gargoyle figures perched anywhere they would look 'good'. Each one rather reminded Sora of the beasts that had attacked him... Around the castle was a pit that seemed bottomless that was about a mile or so wide. And this bridge with no kind of walls on it was right over it. Sora gulped and decided that if he was to get out the rain he would have to trust the frightening castle that didn't seem to trust him in return. Who knew, maybe the interior was better than the exterior.

Sora walked the mile that lead to the large wooden doors of the castle and when he reached them, Sora hesitantly knocked. The door swung slightly open and Sora recoiled just a bit. He shook his head, mentally chastised himself for being so jumpy, and cautiously walked inside. Sora gulped, the inside matched the outside perfectly. What could have been beautiful with some light was turned dark and frightening by the darkness. The ceilings went on forever, giving an ominous look to the room.

"Uhrm... Hello? Hello?" called Sora, nervously looking about the room. Sora's eyes widened slightly when he heard a pair of echoing whispers.

"Kid must'a lost 'is way out there. By the look of 'im I'd say he just barely escaped the Hollow's too."

"Keep quiet Urahara! Maybe he'll go away." Sora looked around the room, then wondered,

"Is someone there?" Within the shadows and out of Sora's range of vision, two men were hiding in the darkness. One of them muttered,

"Not a word, Urahara, NOT. ONE. WORD."

"I-I don't mean to intrude, but I'm stranded out here a-and I need a place to stay for the night..." said Sora, rubbing his forearms to try to generate warmth. Within the shadows, 'Urahara' whispered,

"Oh Byakuya, have a heart!" 'Byakuya' simply shushed him and slapped a hand over his mouth. Urahara rolled his eyes and bit Byakuya's hand. Byakuya let out a yelp and pulled his hand away from Urahara's mouth, giving Urahara an opening to step into the minimal light and say,

"Sure you can stay here kid!" Sora jumped when he saw Urahara. Urahara looked normal enough- human features, blonde hair, eyes hidden behind the brim of a very cool hat that looked something like a bucket- but across the bridge of Urahara's nose lay what could only be described as the upper jaw of a shark with all the teeth still in it(shrunken down to a manageable size anyways) and a pair of orange triangular markings adorned what could be seen of his cheeks. Well, at least Urahara was grinning in a friendly manner...

"Now you've done it Urahara! Wonderful, just WONDERFUL," griped Byakuya, walking into the light with his hands on his hips. Sora's eyes widened more. Byakuya was also humanoid with long black hair and narrow gray eyes, but keeping his hair in order was a strange bone-thing that wrapped around from the top of his head(where it kept three of his bangs separate from the rest of his hair) to the side(where it did the same basic thing but in a different direction). Going down his forehead and stopping at his eyes were two thin purple lines. Sora hesitantly walked up to Byakuya and started poking the strange exoskeletal bone.

"How is this even possible?" wondered Sora before Byakuya glared at him, slapped his hand away and snapped,

"That's ENOUGH." Sora smiled uneasily and said,

"I'm sorry, it's just that I've never seen anything like this befo-" Suddenly, Sora stifled a sneeze with the ripped sleeve of his kimono and Byakuya recoiled in poorly disguised disgust.

"Heh, kid, you're soaked to the bone! C'mon, the fire's over this a-way," said Urahara, leading Sora through a nearby corridor(that Sora now noticed had light coming from it). Byakuya's eyes widened and he ran after the two of them, protesting,

"Hold on right there! You know what the master will do if he finds him here! You have to stop this now Urahara!"

"Then the master WON'T find him here," drawled Urahara, grinning on as he sat next to Sora on the floor. Byakuya sighed and muttered,

"Well, at least he didn't give him the chair to sit in." Suddenly, one of those lizards from the forest came bounding in, barking in a fashion reminiscent of Kon. Sora blinked a few times in surprise, but petted the 'dog' anyways.

"Heh, hey there boy," he murmured with a smile. Byakuya pulled at his hair and hissed,

"I am NOT seeing this!" Right then he was kicked over and promptly walked over by a girl Orihime's age with a cup of green tea in her hands. She had spiky black hair in a boyish fashion, brown eyes, and her outer bone was a strangely shaped jaw above her left eye. Below her left eye was a black crescent moon shape turned on its side with a little swirl coming from the bottom of it. She smiled at Sora when he noticed her and said,

"Have some tea sir. I swear it'll make you feel better in an instant." Sora smiled gratefully at her and said,

"Thank you, miss..."

"Arisawa Tatsuki, sir," she finished for him, stepping back as he drank some of the tea.

"A-RI-SA-WA," growled Byakuya, driven past his limit by this point as he stood up, hands balled into fists. Suddenly, the fire was blown out by a cold gust of wind and Byakuya was knocked over and walked over again, this time in a less comical and more frightening way. The man who did so growled in a feral fashion and hissed,

"There's a human here..."

"Eheheheh, master, sir, allow me to explain. Y'see he was lost in the woods and he was sick and injured and-" Urahara was cut off by a frightening roar from the 'master'. Byakuya also tried to make a case for himself but was cut off while Tatsuki hid the tea and stood against the wall, eyes wide in fear. Sora also had a look of utter terror on his face as he turned to face the monstrous man, too afraid to even analyze any details of his appearance.

"Who are you?! What are you doing here?!?!" growled the beast, getting in Sora's face with a look of utter fury as he bared his teeth. Sora shakily got to his feet and slowly backed away as he stammered,

"I-I'm sorry, I-I was lost in the woods and I-"

"YOU'RE NOT WELCOME HERE!!!" roared the beast, getting back into Sora's face. Sora couldn't speak, terror had immobilized his vocal cords.

"... What are you STARING AT?!?!" the beast growled, getting angrier by the second.

"I-I- I wasn't-"

"Oh, so you've come to stare at the BEAST have you!?!?"

"I-I meant no harm! I just n-needed a place to stay-"

"I'll give you a place to stay." With that the beast grabbed Sora by his ripped kimono and dragged the frightened man away as the servants looked on in horror...

_*~*~*_

_Well, that's it. Hope you enjoyed, long reviews appreciated._


	2. Replacement

_*~*~*_

The next morning, back in the village of Karakura, Keigo and Ichigo were making their way from the town to Orihime and Sora's home. Ichigo's grin was even haughtier than normal and Keigo looked ecstatic.

"Oh man, Orihime's gonna get the surprise of her life!" exclaimed Keigo.

"Yep, this is her lucky day," boasted Ichigo. He then turned to Keigo with a serious face when the reached the path to Orihime's 'front door' and said,

"You remember what to do, Keigo."

"Uh-huh! I run down the other side of town and tell everyone that the wedding is on when you and Orihime come out!" Ichigo grinned and said,

"That's right." He then lifted his sword onto his shoulders again- smacking Keigo with it in the process- and strolled on over to Orihime's 'door'.

Inside, Orihime was kneeling at the small table, reading her book with a serene smile. She was wearing the same old Yukata as yesterday, even though it was much colder today than it was yesterday. Mostly because Orihime only owned one Kimono and one Yukata. Ichigo rapping on the screen's wooden frame and then poking the screen with the tip of his sword, ripping the paper, interrupted this. Orhime sighed and didn't bother getting up and letting him in, because she KNEW he was going to let himself in. And he did, violently slamming the screen open and giving her a haughty grin.

"Kurosaki-san, what a... _pleasant _surprise," said Orihime with a strained smile, remembering her manners.

"Isn't it through? I'm just full of surprises," gushed Ichigo before sauntering over to the small table in the middle of the room and sitting down across from her, resting his sword on her open book to Orihime's displeasure.

"There isn't a girl in the village who isn't jealous of you today. For today is the day that all your dreams come true!" proclaimed Ichigo, his grin getting wider. Orihime raised an eyebrow and said,

"I doubt you know much about my dreams."

"Sure I do! You're a woman, so you dream of getting married and raising a family with a big strong manly husband," he said, flourishing his hand in a gesture that went with his explanation. Orihime groaned and rolled her eyes, but recoiled as soon as Ichigo leaned across the table in a seductive/creepy manner and asked,

"You know who that husband will be, Orihime-chan?" She looked away and muttered,

"Let me think..."

"ME, Orhime-chan," declared Ichigo. Orihime stood up and walked to the door, turning back to Ichigo(who was following her there) as she said,

"Kurosaki-san, I'm speechless! I really don't know what to say." Orihime was cut off by Ichigo pinning her to the screen and purring,

"Say you'll marry me."

"I'm sorry Kurosaki-san, but," Orihime paused as she found the edge of the screen with her left hand, avoided Ichigo who was moving in to kiss her and thought of a good retort all at once. Right as Ichigo was about to land a kiss on her, Orihime ducked under his arm, pulled open the screen, causing Ichigo to fall out, roll down her stoop and onto the ground, Orihime saying as she did all that,

"I just don't deserve you!" As Ichigo got his bearings, Orihime threw his sword out the 'door' as well, the sword landing straight up and down with it's point in the ground right in front of Ichigo's head. She then slammed the screen behind her. Ichigo growled with fury, using his sword to help him onto his feet. He slung it over his shoulders, as he was wont to do, and walked over to a surprised Keigo. Keigo let out a low whistle, grinned, and noted,

"That went WAY better than I thought! I was totally convinced that she would decapitate you, heh heh." Poor Keigo was unprepared for what happened next. Ichigo let out a roar of frustration and smashed the flat side of his sword into Keigo's face with incredible force, knocking Keigo over and breaking his nose.

"I WILL make Orihime Inoue my wife. I swear on my mother's grave that I will!" growled Ichigo as he stormed down the street. Keigo glared at Ichigo while he regained his bearings, but nonetheless followed the swordsman and hunter down the path back to town. Orihime peeked out through the small gap Ichigo had made in the screen, and once she was sure he was gone she grabbed the feed for the chickens and stormed around the side of the house.

"Ugh, I can't _believe _it! He asked me to marry him! I can hardly imagine, being the wife of that brute!" muttered Orihime. She threw the feed out to the chickens and as they swarmed it Orihime said,

"I cannot BELIEVE that I used to have a crush on him! What was I thinking, I want much more than to be the wife of a swordsman slash hunter in a tiny village..." The chickens forgotten, Orihime walked around her house, through a small path in the forest and into a clearing that overlooked the entire valley. She sighed and sat in a cross-legged position, propping her head up on her hands.

"All I want is one adventure, just one. Then, I'd be perfectly happy living here... Unless that adventure got me addicted to adventure... I don't want to be an addict! Addicts never have good lives and their families suffer too! I couldn't do that to Sora! But he could come with me, maybe..." Orihime then sighed. She would trade adventure right now just for someone to talk with who understood her restlessness...

Orihime turned when she heard muffled yapping and the sounds of little paws bounding through the grass. Kon ran up to her from the path, his tail between his legs and the sack still in his mouth. Orihime's confused look turned into one of worry when she noticed the sack.

"Kon? What happened, where's Sora?" She took the sack from Kon and said,

"Come on boy, we have to go find him!" After emptying the sack out in her home and using the sack as a makeshift cloak, Orihime and Kon ran through town and onto the road, Orihime dead set on finding her brother.

_Please be alright please be alright please be alright, _was all that ran through Orihime's head.

_*~*~*_

It may have been late afternoon by the time Kon and Orihime reached the castle gates, but the rain clouds gathering made it look dark as night.

"What is this place...?" whispered Orihime, clutching a hand to her chest as she stared up at the menacing castle. Immediately Kon started to whine, his tail tucking between his legs as he began backing away from the castle gates.

"Come on boy, we both need to go! Sora needs us..." insisted Orihime, trying to keep from betraying any anxiety. Kon sighed; he could tell that Orihime was trying to keep him from leaving so that she could have moral support and not chicken out herself. Therefore, Kon walked back to his place beside Orihime as she made her way through the gate. Suddenly the redhead gasped as she noticed a lone sandal on the pathway. She rushed to it and knelt down, picking it up and bringing it to eye level.

"Sora..." she whispered, eyes wide with fear. However, she also gained some confidence.

"He MUST be here. Come on, Kon," beckoned Orihime as she made her way across the mile-long bridge. Kon followed her a human-step behind. Orihime hesitantly opened the door and walked inside, not noticing that Kon was not following her anymore. She could tell that the high ceilinged foyer would be beautiful if it were well lit and there weren't so many gargoyles, that was for sure. Nevertheless, she returned to the task at hand.

"Hello? Is anyone here? Hello?" called Orihime as she walked to the stairs at the other end of the foyer.

"Sora? Sora, are you here? Nii-san?" she continued to call as she walked along the upper hall.

In the kitchen, Tatsuki was washing the dishes with some help from Neliel. The two of them had not been very close before the curse, but through those ten years of isolation, many of the servants had gotten closer. The two of them had been having a conversation, but they were interrupted by Nnoitra leaning in the doorway and calling,

"Hey there _ladies_." Tatsuki and Neliel both rolled their eyes and smiled.

"Hello, Nnoitra-kun. I doubt you're here to help us out, so what're you here for?" asked Tatsuki.

"Not much, just came here to say that I saw a human girl in the castle," replied Nnoitra, smirking now instead of just grinning. Neliel immediately walked over, rolled the wet towel she was holding up and whipped Nnoitra with it, causing him to recoil in pain.

"Quit making things up Nnoitra! Do that again and I'll have Byakuya put you on the next supply run," chastised Neliel semi-seriously.

"I'm serious this time damn it!" protested Nnoitra, but Neliel ignored him. Suddenly, Yoruichi and Rukia came barreling into the room, both looking excited.

"There's a human girl here!" The two maids said in unintentional unison. Nnoitra grinned an arrogant grin and said in a sing-song tone,

"Seems like you owe me apology sex Neliel." He then was whipped in the groin by Neliel and let out a painful yelp.

Meanwhile, near the tower, Byakuya was pacing around Urahara, chastising him for his actions in a sarcastic tone.

"You just COULDN'T keep quiet, could you? Just HAD to invite him to stay, didn't you? Serve him tea, sit by the fire, pet the dog," mocked Byakuya.

"I was only trying to be hospitable," noted Urahara with a shrug. Byakuya then glared at him and began to rant,

"You were being hospitable AND defying the master's orders! No outsiders are allowed EVER!! Get that through your hat, you irresponsible, devil-may-care, waxy-eared, slack-jawed-"

"Sora?" This got both of the men's attention. They turned to the door and before their very eyes a beautiful redheaded young girl in a strange cloak and a green yukata fast-walked past, not noticing them. Urahara turned to Byakuya with a grin and asked,

"You seein' what I'm seein'?" He then peeked around the door frame as the girl continued down the hall and said,

"It's a girl!"

"I know it's a girl, Urahara," snapped Byakuya.

"Can't you see it? She's the one! The girl we've been waiting for! She's gonna break the spell!" exclaimed Urahara ecstatically. He then rushed down the hall after her.

"Wait a minute!" cried Byakuya, following the blonde man down the hall.

Orihime looked about the hall, worried for her brother and almost losing hope about finding him. She passed a wooden door, but turned back when she saw it open. Urahara and Byakuya shrunk behind the door after opening it as Orihime walked through and called,

"Hello? Is someone here? I-I'm looking for my older brother." She then saw a light ahead and followed the staircase to it. Urahara was just able to get out of her sight as he lit the candle in the wall. She walked on past him without a thought that he could be there.

"That's funny... I could've sworn there was someone here," she murmured before taking the candle and walking into the room beyond the stairs. Orihime grimaced at the sight, for she was in a prison, apparently. She had never liked the thought of prison; it scared her to her bones. She took a deep calming breath, then called out in a slightly lower voice,

"Is anyone here?" She then gasped when she heard her brother's voice from one of the 'cells'.

"Orihime?" he weakly whispered, looking out the barred opening in the locked wooden door.

"Sora!" exclaimed Orihime, rushing to the prison and taking the hand he had reached out.

"H-how did you find me here Orihime?" asked Sora. His voice was hoarse, like he had been coughing. And he did cough while Orihime said,

"Nii-san, your hands are like ice. We have to get you out of here!" When Sora had finished coughing he said,

"Orihime, you need to leave this place right now."

"Who's done this to you?" she demanded.

"I can't explain, you have to leave right now!" he cried.

"I won't leave you!" she exclaimed. Suddenly, she was violently gripped by the shoulder and roughly turned around, the one who grabbed her growling like a feral beast,

"What are you doing here?!"

"RUN, ORIHIME!!" shouted Sora. Orihime dropped the candle and it rolled into a nearby puddle, extinguishing it. Light filtered down through a hole in the ceiling, but the one who had grabbed her remained in the shadows and obscured himself from her vision.

"Who's there, wh-who are you?" asked Orihime, her voice shaking in fear.

"The master of this castle," 'the master' growled, glaring at her from the shadows.

"I've come for my brother, please, let him out. Can't you see he's sick?" pleaded Orihime.

"Then he shouldn't have trespassed here!" roared the master.

"But he could die! Please, I'll do anything!" begged Orihime, clasping her hands together on her chest.

"There's nothing you can do. He's my prisoner," growled the master, turning away from her.

"Oh, there has to be something I can... Wait!" called Orihime. The master looked back over at her but did not turn to her completely. Orihime paused, bit her lip, then leaned into the light and said earnestly,

"I'll stay here instead."

"No, Orihime, you don't know what you're doing!" shouted Sora, straining against the bars.

"You!" the master scoffed, before his expression turned to one of confusion and he turned to her all the way.

"You would... take his place?" he wondered, obviously perplexed by her.

"If I did, would you let him go?" she asked in return.

"Yes, but you have to promise to stay here for the rest of your life, woman!" he growled. Orihime narrowed her eyes, something didn't seem quite right about this person, since he didn't exactly have the shape of a normal human. She couldn't really tell in the shadow.

"... Please, come into the light." With only slight hesitation the master did so and Orihime gasped. He may have been humanoid, but the master was DEFINITELY not human. He was a beast. His hair was long and cerulean, just like the inside of his feline ears. His eyes were the same color, and the area around his eyes leading into the outside of his ears was teal. His teeth were razor sharp and instead of hands he had what could loosely be called paws with extremely sharp-looking claws. What was odd was that his paws were black whilst most of his body was white. Strange curved blades protruded from his forearms and she could see he had a tail that touched the floor. The only clothing he wore was a white Hakama kept around his waist by a black sash. However, what frightened Orihime the most was the strange bone on his forehead that was almost impossible to describe and the hole through his stomach. If Orihime were not terrified, she would've wondered how he could eat with that hole there...

Orihime clenched her eyes shut and turned back to her brother, opening them as he gripped her forearm and said,

"No, Orihime, I can't let you do this!" Orihime looked down at the ground, and then smiled a melancholy smile at her brother.

"Sora, Nii-san, you've been supporting me my whole life. Now it's time for me to repay you. Goodbye, Sora," she whispered, hugging his arm. Her brother stared at her in shock.

"Orihime..." he breathed, stunned. Orihime put on a serious expression, stood, and walked until she was about two feet from the beast. She looked him in the eye and said in the strongest voice she could muster,

"You have my word." The beast grinned in a fashion that almost reminded her of Ichigo- ALMOST- for about a second before growling,

"Done!" He then swiftly moved around Orihime as she hugged herself, trying desperately to keep her brave face on. She didn't watch as the beast dragged her brother- who was screaming for her and making her decision all the more regrettable- and tried not to listen. She sank to her knees once she knew the beast and her brother were out of earshot and cried into her hands. Orihime had always wanted excitement, but even though most would consider this somewhat exciting, Orihime was not happy. She would never see her home again or Sora. Kon was probably following Sora and whatever was taking him back to Karakura as well. She may have been in the company of a beast, but she felt horribly alone.

_*~*~*_

_Well, that's it. Hope you enjoyed, long reviews appreciated._


	3. Unbelievable

_*~*~*_

Grimmjow dragged the human- 'Sora' she had called him- out of the castle, ignoring his many cries for his sister to be spared. He snorted; the woman had given herself up for his freedom! Sora shouldn't be complaining.

"Please, spare Orihime! I beg you!" Sora cried desperately. Grimmjow glared at him and growled,

"She isn't your problem anymore." With a sharp whistle, a large Hollow Lizard came skulking out of the forest. Grimmjow held out the human to the lizard and commanded,

"Take the human to Karakura." The lizard nodded, grabbed Sora, set him on his back, and bolted off to Karakura, Sora still yelling for Orihime. Out of nowhere, a little dog that looked like a lion ran after the Hollow Lizard, yapping annoyingly and making Grimmjow want to kick it. When the lizard, Sora, and the lion-dog were out of sight, Gimmjow skulked back into the castle and up to the tower. He was prepared to walk right past Urahara on the stairs to the prison, when the arrancar piped up with a "Sir?"

"What?!" growled Grimmjow, turning around to glare at Urahara, who jumped a little.

"Well, I was just thinkin' that since this girl's gonna be with us for a while, we might give her a more comfortable room-" Urahara was cut off by a roar from Grimmjow. He wasn't in the best of moods right now(but he wasn't much worse than normal) and Urahara was just pissing him off more.

"Alright then we won't give her a room," muttered Urahara, readjusting his hat. Grimmjow was in the mood for yelling at someone and had been planning to break Orihime's morale by doing just this, until he was stopped at the entrance to the room. Orihime was already a sobbing wreck, doubled over from the force of said sobs. Immediately Grimmjow felt like a giant asshole for causing this, but was still kind of pissed that she made that feeling happen. And he was even more pissed that he could _feel_ Urahara grinning triumphantly behind him because of Grimmjow's sudden crappy feeling.

"... Oi, woman," called Grimmjow. Orihime immediately sat up straight with a yelp of surprise and wiped away her tears, trying to hide the weakness she probably knew he had seen. She turned to him afterwards with a small "Yes?" Grimmjow halfway turned and pointed behind him with his thumb.

"Follow me," he grunted. Orihime blinked in confusion and wondered,

"Follow you where?"

"To your room," he answered simply.

"But I thought I was a prisoner..." stated Orihime. Grimmjow's expression became one of annoyance as he somewhat held up his arms and wondered,

"You wanna stay in the tower woman?!"

"No-"

"Then follow me or I'm leaving you here," he grunted, a tone of finality in his voice. He turned and walked down the stairs, falling into step with Urahara(who had somehow found a candle and lit it) as his superior hearing caught Orihime running to catch up with him. He allowed himself to grin right then. The three of them walked in silence for quite some time, until near the end of their walk.

"... Excuse me, may I know your name?" Orihime asked unexpectedly.

"Why would you want to know," grunted Grimmjow.

"It's rather awkward not knowing someone's name..." she replied, looking at her feet. Grimmjow rolled his eyes and responded,

"My name's Grimmjow Jaegurjaquez." Orihime furrowed her brow in thought afterwards. The name was rather strange, but she was the one named Orihime. A minute or so later, Urahara had elbowed Grimmjow in a way that wouldn't get Orihime's attention and whispered,

"Say somethin' else to her." Grimmjow glared at Urahara, but decided that he probably should say something to her.

"... You're gonna be livin' here from now on, so you can go anywhere ya want except for the West Wing," stated Grimmjow. Urahara resisted the urge to facepalm, he was hoping for something a little more personal than that...

"What's in the West Win-" Orihime was cut off by Grimmjow semi-turning to her and growling,

"Just don't go there woman!" Orihime recoiled, but nodded. They then continued on to the room. Getting there only took about two minutes more, but those minutes were full of silence so awkward it was almost deadly. As Orihime walked into the room(opening the door herself since Grimmjow wasn't exactly the gentlemanly type), Grimmjow mentioned,

"'F you need anything my servants 'll be there for ya." Orihime nodded slightly, keeping a straight face. Urahara elbowed him again and whispered,

"Dinner, invite her to dinner." Grimmjow rolled his eyes, then growled,

"Dinner's in an hour, woman, and you're eating with me. That ain't a request!" He slammed the door behind her and was about to walk back down the hallway when he heard soft sobbing behind the door.

"_Nice_, sir. Real smooth and gentleman-like," drawled Urahara sarcastically.

"That woman just cries too much!" snapped Grimmjow in his defense. However, that didn't keep him from feeling like crap yet again.

_*~*~*_

Snow had finally come to Karakura, announcing winter's official arrival. It was on snowy nights like this that Karakura's bar was full to bursting.

"Dismissed, rejected, _publicly _humiliated! That girl's tangling with the wrong man, NOBODY rejects me! Get me some more sake Keigo!" snapped a drunken Ichigo. Both Ichigo and Keigo were at the bar that evening, and until Ichigo had started drinking he had actually been taking Orihime's rejection of him in stride, already planning his next move until the depressant known as alcohol brought out the worst in him. Keigo turned his attention away from his bandaged nose to order more sake for Ichigo. His nose was still broken from Ichigo's blow that morning, so that impeded upon his being able to taste the stuff, which was why he wasn't getting any for himself.

"Oh come on Ichigo-san, don't beat yourself up! You're the best hunter in the village, the best swordsman around, all the girls but Orihime love you, everyone wants to be you... You've got it made Ichigo-san!" exclaimed Keigo with a bright smile. Of course, none of that was as clear as it looks here, for Keigo's injured nose was impeding upon his speech as well and making him sound like he had a cold. Ichigo sat up straight and grinned his o-so-haughty grin.

"You're right, Keigo! I'm amazing! Now I remember why I keep you around," said Ichigo, fondly ruffling Keigo's hair. Keigo beamed with pride at that comment, himself remembering why he hung with Ichigo all these years.

This 'heartwarming' moment was interrupted by the door to the bar bursting open, Sora Inoue standing in the doorway catching his breath. It was safe to say that he looked like hell if hell were a man in a tattered kimono that was bleeding a lot and looking half-crazed half-desperate. Everyone stared at him in shock; silence reigning in the bar until Sora finally caught his breath and gave everyone a desperate look.

"Help... Please! Someone, I need your help! H-he has her, he has her locked in the dungeon!" shouted Sora, looking horribly frightened.

"Who?" wondered one of the bar's patrons.

"Orihime! We have to go, there isn't a moment to lose!" continued Sora.

"Hold on there Sora-san, just _who _has Orihime locked up in a dungeon?" wondered Ichigo as he turned to face Sora, straddling his chair in the process. Sora didn't seem to hear the mocking tone Ichigo used on 'locked up in a dungeon' because he answered anyways.

"A beast! A horrible hideous beast has my sister!" answered Sora. After a beat, almost everyone started laughing hysterically at Sora's claim. Sora's eyes widened in an almost crazed fashion at this.

"Was it a big beast?" taunted one man, getting behind Sora with a malicious grin.

"Huge!" replied Sora, turning to him.

"With a long ugly tail?" taunted another.

"Longer than his body!" exclaimed Sora.

"Did he have razor sharp fangs?" mocked a third.

"Sharper than razors! Please, I'm begging you, help me save my sister!" pleaded Sora, dropping to his knees before Ichigo as the three men who mocked him closed in on him from behind.

"Fine, we'll help you out," drawled Ichigo. Sora smiled with relief and was about to start obsessively thanking Ichigo when the men grabbed him from behind, dragged him to the door and threw him out of the bar as the malicious laughter started up again.

Inside, the three men who had thrown Sora out were now having this exchange:

"Heh, Sora Inoue's a complete nut!"

"That crazy bastard's always good for a laugh." Ichigo overheard this, and immediately a light bulb went off. He smirked evilly, spun his chair around so that he was facing Keigo, and he purred,

"Keigo, Orihime loves Sora a lot, right?" Keigo blinked and replied,

"Uh, yeah, she loves him more than anything." Ichigo's smirk turned into an almost lecherous little grin as he continued,

"And she'd do ANYTHING for him, right?" Keigo grinned himself and he said,

"I think I get what you're saying..." Ichigo stood up and said,

"Come, Keigo, we've got work to do." Meanwhile, Sora lay out there in the snow, an expression of shock and betrayal frozen on his face. His face then contorted as if he were going to cry and he whispered,

"Will nobody help me? Help Orihime?" Suddenly, Sora was helped out of the snow by two people he couldn't identify just yet for lack of bearings. When he regained them though, he was shocked but not all that shocked to see that he had been helped up by Ukitake and Unohana, both looking concerned.

"Retsu-san, Jushiro-san..." breathed Sora.

"Sora-kun, what happened?" Unohana asked, looking over Sora's cut and ragged form with a worried expression. Sora looked away and murmured,

"It's Orihime... She's been taken." Ukitake's eyes widened and he echoed,

"Orihime? Taken?" Sora nodded frantically and Unohana took both men by the shoulder.

"Come on, Sora-kun can tell us all about it inside. I have to tend to his wounds and this cold isn't doing anything for him," she said gently. Ukitake and Sora nodded and the three of them walked to Unohana's home, Sora starting on his story as they did...

_*~*~*_

_Well, that's it. Hope you enjoyed, long reviews appreciated._


	4. Pointless

_*~*~*_

Back in the castle, forty minutes had passed since Orihime had been lead to her room and the girl was still sobbing. She had however put her makeshift cloak under her arms and head so that she wouldn't stain the sheets with her tears. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Orihime quickly dried her tears and put on another brave face as she called,

"Who is it?"

"Tatsuki Arisawa and Momo Hinamori, Orihime-san," replied a girl on the other side of the door. Orihime lightly walked over to the door and opened it, eyes widening a bit. The two similar looking but quite different girls walked into the room, each giving her a unique smile.

"I'm Momo, nice to meet you Orihime-san!" chirped the shorter of the two girls. 'Momo' had black hair kept in a bun by a cloth over the hair and large gray eyes not unlike Orihime's own. She wore a white Hakama like Grimmjow's, but to go with it was an odd shirt that ended at where her bust ended, had criss-crossing straps that made a nice little loop for her cleavage to be shown from, and was white with black lining on the bottom and edges of the straps. A medium sized hole went straight through her exposed midriff where her belly-button should be, holding her hair back from her face like a headband was a bottom jaw with teeth still on it, and on her face were two pink swirl marks.

"An' I'm Tatsuki, nice to meet you Orihime-chan," said the taller one. Tatsuki was about Orihime's age with black spiky hair in a boyish fashion, brown eyes, and her external bone was a strange curved jaw. Her marking was a black crescent moon shape turned on its side below her left eye with a small swirl coming from the bottom. She too wore a Hakama that was accompanied by a white tank top that had four black lines coming from the black v-neck of the shirt and a pair of white fingerless gloves with black lining. Her right shoulder had a hole through it as well. AND… she was holding a cup of green tea.

"I just thought you'd like some tea, Orihime-chan, so I made you some," explained Tatsuki, handing the cup to Orihime who took it with a genuine smile.

"Thank you very much, Arisawa-san," said Orihime.

"Oh please, call me Tatsuki-chan," said Tatsuki, waving it off. Momo smirked and said,

"Wow, Nnoitra-kun was right for once! She _is _pretty Tatsuki-chan!" Orihime immediately blushed and exclaimed,

"N-no I'm not! My hair's not normal colored, my eyes are too big, I'm kinda scatter brained-" Momo laughed and exclaimed herself,

"Pretty and bashful! Tatsuki-chan, I think I have a girl crush!" Orihime chuckled and sat down on the bed, Tatsuki and Momo following suit as she took a sip of the tea.

"Wow, this is wonderful Tatsuki-chan!" proclaimed Orihime, her eyes sparkling from the taste sensation. Tatsuki blinked in surprise and she wondered,

"Are you sure? It's not too bitter or anything? That's what everyone else says about my tea..."

"Too bitter?! That's crazy talk! This is perfect! The best tea I've had in a while in fact," declared Orihime. Tatsuki blushed with pride and thanked Orihime, while Momo laughed and said,

"Looks like we've found someone who can stand your horrible tea, Tatsuki-chan!" Then, as Orihime was taking another sip and finishing the cup, Tatsuki noted,

"That was a really brave thing you did for your brother, Orihime."

"We all think so," added Momo with a kind smile. Orihime's own smile fell as she gazed at her teacup and murmured,

"But... I've lost my only family, my dreams... Everything." Tatsuki flicked Orihime in the shoulder and said,

"C'mon girl, cheer up! It'll be okay in the end, I know it." Orihime smiled gratefully at Tatsuki, but didn't say anything. Suddenly, Tatsuki perked up and she face-palmed.

"Agh! I totally forgot, I have to get dinner on the table! See you Momo-chan, Orihime-chan!" called Tatsuki as she ran out the door, waving behind her only once before she left. Momo then beamed and skipped over to the wardrobe, calling back to Orihime,

"Alright Orihime-chan, let's see what we should dress you in for dinner~!" Momo opened the wardrobe and, after batting away a swarm of moths, gasped excitedly as she picked out a beautiful blue kimono and a violet obi to go with it.

"You're going to look amazing in this!" chirped Momo, turning back to Orihime. Orihime put her hands up in a warding gesture and said,

"That's really nice of you, but I'm not going to dinner."

"(gasp) But you have to!" exclaimed Momo. Right then, the door opened and Byakuya walked in, looking just a bit more prissy than normal.

"It's time for dinner, Orihime-san," he announced.

_*~*~*_

Grimmjow paced back and forth with an impatient growl as Tatsuki and Urahara looked on.

"Where _is _that woman?! I'm tired of waiting for her!" growled Grimmjow.

"Be patient sir, she's lost her only family and her freedom all at once. Give her a little time," chastised Tatsuki.

"Hey, sir, you think that this girl might be the one to break the curse?" suggested Urahara with a hopeful grin.

"You idiot! Of course I've thought of that! I'm not a retard dammit..." snapped Grimmjow.

"Good! So: You fall for her, she falls for you, bada bing bada boom, and the curse is broken! We'll be human by midnight!" exclaimed Urahara, looking excited as both Tatsuki and Grimmjow groaned and rolled their eyes. Urahara made a confused face and asked,

"What, you don't like my plan?"

"I know I'm not normally a romantic, but even I know that stuff like this takes time and effort. Love doesn't just happen over night ya dumbass!" said Tatsuki, rapping Urahara on the top of the head semi-gently.

"I know that it takes time too! Time that we don't have, Tatsuki-chan. The rose is wilting already," explained Urahara in a somewhat exasperated tone.

"Like it matters! She's beautiful and I'm a fucking monster!" growled Grimmjow. Both Tatsuki and Urahara gave him sympathetic looks, but Tatsuki went a step further by stepping forwards and saying,

"What's on the outside isn't really important, everyone in this castle knows that well enough. Sir, the point is to help her see past that!"

"By acting like a gentleman and crap like that?" snorted Grimmjow, not buying it. Tatsuki gave him a disapproving look and snapped,

"Yes. Everyone here knows you are _not _a gentleman, but you can at least pretend that you are for Orihime!"

"And you have to flatter her a _lot_. Girls love that," added Urahara.

"Like hell I'm doing that," muttered Grimmjow.

"Exactly. Orihime isn't that kind of girl Urahara-san, she won't be won over with simple hollow compliments. But, sir, if you do really want to compliment her on something genuinely you probably should. Just not her appearance a'ight?" said Tatsuki. Grimmjow hesitantly nodded and Urahara added,

"Oh yeah, and we will be forced to hurt you if you lose you temper so don't do that m'kay?" Suddenly the door opened and Byakuya walked in, looking nervous for once. Grimmjow frowned at him and asked,

"Well? Where's the woman?" Byakuya's eyes widened and he sputtered,

"O-oh, the woman? Orihime? Well- Uhr- It's like this- Uh-" Byakuya then sighed and murmured, "She isn't coming." Right then, a sound resounded through the castle. In fact, a few Hollows in the forest outside could hear it too. It scared the servants half to death and made Orihime jump. What was it? Well... It was Grimmjow, roaring at the top of his lungs,

"WHHAATT?!?!" Immediately he stormed out of the dining room, his fury showing in his gait and in his facial expression as he made his way to Orihime's room, Tatsuki, Byakuya and Urahara all on his heels, hoping that they could fix this situation. When he got to her room, Grimmjow violently pounded on the door three times before shouting,

"I thought I told you to come down to dinner woman!!!"

"I'm not hungry!" retorted Orihime through the door. All three servants out there with Grimmjow face-palmed. Grimmjow got even angrier and yelled,

"YOU'LL COME OUT DAMMIT OR I'LL BREAK DOWN THE DOOR!!"

"Uhr, sir, I _really _don't think that's the best way to handle this..." mentioned Urahara, gaining Grimmjow's attention.

"_Please_, at least _pretend_ to be a gentleman!" pleaded Byakuya.

"But she's being so _difficult_," hissed Grimmjow, leaning in towards his servants. Tatsuki leaned towards him with a frown and said,

"You WILL pretend to be a gentleman or I WILL hit you." Grimmjow rolled his eyes with a small groan and turned back to the door.

"Will you come down to dinner... please?" he muttered with forced politeness. In the background, Byakuya was hit on the back of the head for giving the thumbs up and looking like an idiot.

"No thank you!" snapped Orihime through the door.

"YOU CAN'T STAY IN THERE FOREVER WOMAN!!!"

"Yes I can."

"THEN GO AHEAD AND STARVE!!!" With that, Grimmjow bounded in an animalistic fashion around his servants, down the hall, and out of sight. Urahara blinked twice, then said,

"Yeah, that went the exact opposite of 'well'."

"Ya think?" sneered Tatsuki sarcastically. Byakuya then put on a serious face, turned to Urahara and ordered,

"Urahara-san, stay out here and make sure that the girl does _not_ come out." Urahara put on a fake serious face and said,

"You can count on me _Kuchiki-taichou_." He then started comically pacing in front of Orihime's doors. Byakuya nodded and Tatsuki sighed,

"Well, we might as well clean up the food..." Byakuya nodded in agreement and the two of them headed down to the dining room to start doing just that.

Grimmjow burst through the doors of the West Wing and stormed past the rose, leaning on the balcony and letting out a huge sigh. That woman was driving him to his limit already and she had only been here an hour! It was insane!

"Does she want me to beg or something?! Goddammit!!" he exclaimed, punching the rail of the balcony to release his frustration. He then walked over to the table that held the rose and the mirror, picked up the mirror and growled,

"Show me the woman!" The mirror then changed with a surge of green energy around the frame from his reflection to Orihime sitting on her bed, Momo beside her and pestering her.

"Oh come now, the master really isn't that bad after you get to know him! You should give him a chance Orihime-chan," pressed Momo.

"I don't want to get to know him! I don't want anything to do with him!" spat Orihime. With those words, Grimmjow's once semi-angry face turned to a melancholy and hopeless one, his ears drooping too to complete the effect. He then looked away from the mirror with a tortured expression and murmured,

"The hell am I thinking, she'll never see me as anything but a monster." He gently set the mirror down next to the rose and it's glass case. Right then, as if on cue, a petal fell from the rose to join the four others beneath it that had already fallen.

"It's pointless..."

_*~*~*_

_Well, that's it. Hope you enjoyed, long reviews appreciated._


	5. Loop

_*~*~*_

The door to Orihime's room opened a crack, said girl peeking through and surveying the hall cautiously. She had seen the man who had been guarding her room go off with a dark-skinned woman while she was peeking through the keyhole earlier, and it seemed pretty certain that he wasn't coming back. Momo had left a while ago and nobody else that Orihime could see was in the hall, so she slunk out of her room, still keeping her footsteps light. Orihime cautiously looked back and forth as she walked down the hall, making sure that neither Grimmjow nor any of the servants discovered her. She was on a mission, and that mission was to GET SOME FOOD!! After all, Orihime hadn't eaten in quite some time...

In the kitchen, Tatsuki was putting away the dishes with Momo's assistance. Nobody had said much since they had started cleaning up the uneaten food, but the silence was broken when Neliel cracked and exclaimed while pounding a fist on the counter,

"Damn it! I worked hard on that meal! I mean, it's been a long LONG time since I've cooked for anyone but us and I was trying to make a good impression! And the broad just turns it down! What a waste..."

"Oh calm down Nel, it's been a long night for everyone," chided Tatsuki, though she didn't look or sound like her heart was really in it. Truth be told, she had wanted Orihime to come down to dinner. Though a good amount of the servants were as disillusioned as Grimmjow and hardly believed that Orihime would see past their master's beastly appearance, consequently breaking the spell, Tatsuki hadn't been one of them. In fact, she might have even had more hope than Urahara, who was notorious for always believing they'd be human again and always saying every morning, "Don't look so down everyone! Any moment now a beautiful girl will come waltzing in here to break the curse, I guarantee it!" And at the end of the day, when no girl showed up, Urahara would take it in stride and say that tomorrow would be the day.

"Well if you ask me, the woman was just being stubborn. After all, Grimmjow-sama DID say please," stated Byakuya, standing up and closing the bottom cupboard(for he had been putting dishes away down there until now) with an irate slam, interrupting Tatsuki's thoughts on Urahara quite rudely. Grimmjow didn't really like it when his native Japanese servants called him 'Grimmjow-sama'(he found it rather weird), so they only called him that when they were sure he was out of earshot.

"But if Grimmjow-sama doesn't learn to control his temper she'll never see him for who he really is," noted Momo, giving Byakuya a pointed half-glare. Suddenly, almost every head in the kitchen turned as the door opened slowly and Orihime crept into the room with a small awkward smile. Tatsuki beamed at the redhead and called,

"Hey, you finally came out Orihime-chan!" Byakuya's eyes narrowed and he said,

"Let me guess, the man guarding your room left about ten minutes after I did with a dark-skinned woman." Orihime nodded and right then, Urahara and Yoruichi came running into the room, both giving Byakuya sheepish grins when they noticed him. Byakuya rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Well, I guess it's time for introductions since you're out here with everyone," mentioned Tatsuki, her smile toning itself down as she walked over to Orihime, who had moved to the center of the room. Orihime pointed over at Byakuya and said,

"That's Byakuya Kuchiki. He's the head of the household- he bosses us around when Grimmjow-sama isn't doing that- and is a giant prick. His sister Rukia's a maid here."

"I am not a _prick_, Arisawa!" snapped Byakuya. Urahara shook his head, put a hand on Byakuya's shoulder and said,

"Dude, you are. You totally are." Tatsuki was about to introduce Urahara, but instead Urahara kissed Orihime's hand in a gentlemanly fashion, gave her a dashing grin, and said,

"And I'm Kisuke Urahara, it's a _pleasure _to meet you Orihime-chan." Yoruichi hit him on the head, smirking as she did, then turned to Orihime and said,

"I'm Yoruichi Shihoin, a maid and Urahara's friend with benefits." Orihime blinked her large gray eyes a few times, not entirely getting what Yoruichi meant by 'friend with benefits'. Although, Orihime could not deny that with her long purple-black hair(kept in a long ponytail by her outer bone which was a jaw that wrapped around the ponytail's base), cat-like yellow eyes and dark skin, Yoruichi was quite beautiful. Orihime then turned around as a woman standing behind her noted,

"I'm Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck, the cook and the woman whose food you snubbed." Orihime sweat-dropped and blushed nervously. Neliel was also very beautiful with long green hair, light brown eyes and a bust that rivaled her own. Her marking was a red line that started on her left cheek and ended on her right, the parts on her cheeks larger and oval shaped, and her outer bone was the upper part of a skull on the top of her head with a pair of curved horns on it. Neliel then pointed to a tall, rail thin man- with black hair that looked rather greasy, one eye(since the other was covered by a large eye patch, and a strange spoon-shaped hood on his shirt- on the other side of the room and explained,

"That's Nnoitra Jiruga. If you ever encounter him on your own, destroy him in any way possible." This apparently offended 'Nnoitra' as he shouted, "Hey! What kind of introduction was that-", before getting slammed in the stomach by a pot Neliel had expertly thrown his way. Orihime stifled a laugh as Tatsuki chuckled at Nnoitra's expense, then smiled, bowed, and said,

"It's very nice to meet all of you... Except Jiruga-san, I think..." Nnoitra made another indignant sound as he gained the wind that the pot had knocked out of him, but he yelped again as another pot flung by Neliel hit him in the chest.

"Well, you came out here, so is there anything we can do for you Orihime-chan?" asked Momo, walking up to Orihime as well. Orihime put her hands up in front of her and she responded,

"Oh, no, I was just going to really quickly make some dinner for myself-"

"WHAT?!?" Neliel suddenly exclaimed, making Orihime jump. Neliel then dramatically pointed at Orihime and said very seriously,

"I have a policy here Orihime: As long as I'm around, NOBODY but the servants cooks for themselves! And besides, I already made a meal that I worked REALLY freakin' hard on and I can still salvage it now."

"That's-" started Orihime, before Urahara cut her off.

"Orihime-chan, relax! Let us do this for you! Besides, we're servants. It's what we do," he said with a grin, patting her shoulder.

"You're a guest here hon'," added Yoruichi with a smirk. Orihime's smile softened to a melancholy one and she murmured,

"Shihoin-san, the term guest implies that I'm allowed to leave..." An awkward silence was about to take place, but Momo murdered that possibility by chirping,

"Then that means that you're a resident of this castle! And we also let Nel cook for us!" Momo's intention was for Orihime to cheer up, but instead she perked up with a surprised face and immediately wondered,

"Does that mean I'm gonna have bones on my face like you people? Because that would be REALLY cool! I'd want some that go around my eyes and connect with my hairpins like big old' glasses, a few petally attachments coming out of the ends of my hairpins too! And I'd want the hole thing to be on my forehead 'cause that would look really neat too! And-"

"Whoa, slow down there Orihime-chan! And sorry, but you're not gonna have masks like we do. Only us who were here ten years ago have them 'cause-" Tatsuki was interrupted by Byakuya snapping,

"Don't you remember what Grimmjow-sama said?! She's not allowed to eat!!" Tatsuki and Urahara waved it off in unison and Urahara said,

"Forget that, the girl probably hasn't eaten in a while! We're not gonna let her go hungry, so go pout in the corner like you always do." Byakuya frowned and walked into a corner, all while muttering,

"I do NOT pout in corners." Orihime giggled and said,

"I was only going to say that I have very strange tastes when it comes to food, so maybe I could help you out in making those dishes more 'Orihime-friendly'."

"I can vouch for her tastes! Orihime-chan actually LIKES Tatsuki-chan's tea," agreed Momo, pointing at Orihime with her thumb and grinning. Urahara's eyebrows shot up and he murmured,

"You DO have weird taste in food, Orihime-chan." Orihime then turned to Neliel with a hopeful expression.

"Well... O-de-ru-shu-va-n-ku-san, may I do that? Please?" asked Orihime, stumbling over how to pronounce Neliel's surname. Neliel shrugged and said,

"What the hell, I might get some new recipes out of it." And so, Orihime, Neliel, and any servant Neliel had approved for handling food set about to salvaging and reconfiguring the whole meal, Orihime asking questions as they did about the castle(learning that the servants were a species known as 'arrancar' as she did) and baffling many of the servants with her tastes. After all, one of the things she created from the large meal was roasted chicken _drizzled with chocolate with bananas and chili peppers as stuffing. _Yep, Orihime was a strange one alright. In about a half hour, Orihime and the servants had created seventeen Orihime-approved dishes, almost all of which being too terrifying to describe. Orihime enjoyed every single one and even Neliel liked a few. To finish off this feast of horror, Orihime had some of Tatsuki's infamously bad tea.

"Oh, thanks so much, all of you!" exclaimed Orihime, her eyes sparkling with happiness. Neliel chuckled and replied,

"I should be thanking you Orihime-san. I'm going to have to write down those recipes and try them on Byakuya!" Byakuya stomped into the room almost on cue and snapped,

"Alright, she's had her dinner. Now she goes back to her room!"

"I couldn't possibly now! This is the first time I've ever been in an enchanted castle before..." said Orihime. Her smile then fell as all the servants looked down at the floor with melancholy expressions. Even Nnoitra didn't seem too cheery, and it was REALLY hard to tell with him.

"... The accurate term for this castle is _cursed, _Orihime-san," murmured Byakuya. Orihime gulped, but after a beat she smiled awkwardly and said,

"Well, I'd like to have a look around anyways." Urahara immediately perked up and said,

"I'll take you around Orihime-chan!"

"Urahara! We can't take her, she might start poking around in places she isn't supposed to be poking!" exclaimed Byakuya. Orihime got an idea instantly as Byakuya spoke up, and instantly she gave Byakuya a sweet smile.

"Maybe _you _could show me around Byakuya-san. I bet you know everything about this castle..." Byakuya stared at her in shock for a little bit, then he turned around and said,

"Follow me, time's wasting." Orihime grinned triumphantly and walked behind Byakuya. Urahara let out a low whistle and muttered, "Smart girl," before following the two of them out. As they walked through the hall- the hollow lizard/dog joining up with them and giving Orihime a small pang of homesickness with the reminder of Kon- Byakuya droned on about the architecture(loving the sound of his own voice), Urahara tried not to yawn with boredom, and Orihime let some distance grow between her and the arrancar. She had only asked for the tour so that she could ditch her guides and go around on her own. To be truthful, Orihime preferred exploring on her lonesome to being lead around.

Besides, on her own she could go all the places she wasn't allowed to, and that was always fun.

When she was sure Byakuya and Urahara weren't looking back, Orihime slowly walked backwards, making sure not to trip over her kimono's long skirt and give away her position. As Urahara and Byakuya drifted from her sight, Orihime started walking along herself. She was able to appreciate the architecture a lot more on her own and was staring at the ceiling when she came across a staircase to her right. Orihime raised an eyebrow, curious as to where these stairs lead.

"I've seen the East Wing, so this must be..." Orihime trailed off because her thoughts finished for her. The West Wing. The place Grimmjow had specifically told her not to go to. The place that was pulling her up the stairs right now with its mysterious appeal. She remembered to keep quiet as she walked through the entrance, the tiny smile she had disappearing as she surveyed the West Wing. Everything she passed was either damaged or broken, especially anything reflective. There were stains the color of dried human blood on the floor and walls and hardly any light shone, making the hall very hard to see in. At the end of the hall was a pair of ornate wooden doors, the only things that did not seem to be tarnished or destroyed.

Orihime paused at the doors, almost turning back when damned curiosity pulled her to the doors again. The redhead gently pushed open the doors, making sure that the hinges didn't make a single sound as she padded into the room. She had to stifle a gasp, for the destruction here was even worse. All but a precious few things had been mistreated and destroyed, and Orihime knew without a doubt that this is where Grimmjow resided. Her apprehensiveness began to grow at this very fact, but Orihime was not finished yet. She _had _to see what was being kept here, for she doubted Grimmjow would want to hide a destroyed room. That's when a luminous glow caught her eye. Orihime turned and gasped.

Orihime the approached the most beautiful rose she had ever seen. It was a brilliant pink and was the source of the glow. The rose was floating in a glass case, and when Orihime removed the case a crestfallen look came to her beautiful features. The rose was wilting, and below where it floated lay six petals. The rose was dying. She was about to reach out to touch it when she immediately drew her hand back with a gasp at the force of Grimmjow's paws hitting the sides of the table and gripping it so tightly his knuckles turned a pale gray. Orihime was avoiding looking at Grimmjow's face, but she could tell from his growling that _he was FURIOUS._

"WHAT. ARE. YOU. _DOING HERE __**WOMAN?!?!**_" He roared.

"I'm sorry!" cried Orihime, backing away and shielding herself with her arms. She knew full well it would not help if he decided to lash out at her physically now, though.

"DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU COULD'VE DONE!?!?" he continued, backing her into a corner.

"I meant no harm!" she pleaded, not knowing that she sounded exactly like her brother had only a day or so ago.

"GET OUT OF HERE!!" roared Grimmjow once more, destroying a nearby object so that he wouldn't destroy the girl. Immediately Orihime dashed around him faster than she had ever run before, through the doors, and out of the West Wing. But she didn't slow down there, _Gods _no. No, even though Orihime had promised she would stay she hadn't been fearing for her life then. Now she was, and her instincts told her to _get the hell out!! _She didn't even stop to get her cloak, nor acknowledge the confused servants she barreled past. Then she was bursting through the doors of the castle and into the blizzard outside. Once she regained rational thought Orihime would regret her decision to wear a yukata the day she had gone after Sora, but now was not the time for rational thought. Adrenaline was keeping her warm enough anyways.

Orihime sprinted through the forest, the ominous howls of Hollows spurring her on as she ran. But her canter came to a halt as basic Hollows started to leak out of the woods, leering at her hungrily. Orihime started to back up, but she noticed a shadow passing over her, and when she turned she gasped again. It was a Gillian in all of it's giant hulking 'glory'. Suddenly she realized that she was without a way home surrounded by beasts, was absolutely freezing, and had no way of defending herself. And she was terrified. However, her fight or flight instinct steeled her to at least drive off the smaller Hollows and give herself and opening to escape. However, right as she was about to turn and kick a smaller Hollow away, she heard a familiar roar.

Immediately the hollow was decapitated and his head discarded by Grimmjow. Who looked both pissed off and somewhat excited at the same time. The Hollows turned on him, but this was what he wanted. Immediately he started taking down the Hollow's, ripping them limb from limb and taking the not as impressive blows they dealt to him without the slightest hint of pain. Nevertheless, he was taking damage, whether he wanted to acknowledge that or not. Orihime was amazed, not only by Grimmjow's strength and ability, but also by the fact that she could spot him grinning savagely during the battle. He was _enjoying _this! In seconds, the only ones living were Grimmjow, Orihime, and the Gillian, and in even less seconds not even that would be the case. The Gillian lunged at Grimmjow with a howl and Grimmjow met him halfway with a roar. Grimmjow stabbed his claws deep into the hollow's head and dragged them all the way through its body, cutting the thing in half. Then it was quiet, besides the howling of the wind and Grimmjow's labored breathing.

Orihime stared at Grimmjow in shock, mouth hanging wide open as he started to come down from the adrenaline rush of battle and was feeling the full effect of his injuries now. He turned to her with a look she could not describe before falling to the ground, unconscious and bleeding on the snow. Orihime bit her lip and looked down the path, then back at Grimmjow, down the path again, Grimmjow. Then, without a word or even a sigh, Orihime hefted Grimmjow's much larger (and consequently heavier) form to rest on one of her small shoulders and started the trek back to the castle.

_*~*~*_

The first thing Grimmjow saw when he awoke was a thick curtain of orange cascading down in front of his face. He made a confused face, but that confusion turned into surprise when he could make out Orihime's up-close face through gaps in the orange. His bearings returned and he realized that they were back at the castle and Orihime was cleaning and bandaging all the wounds Grimmjow had sustained while rescuing her.

"... Woman?" he wondered, grabbing her attention. He thought that when she realized he was awake she would immediately run, but no. Orihime just looked up at him in surprise from the wound she was about to treat on his chest, and she smiled. _She. Smiled. _How could that be?! Only some amount of time Grimmjow was not going to bother with ago did he roar at her and scare her half to death and now she was _smiling at him?! _Either this woman was bipolar or she enjoyed being yelled at, and he doubted those.

"Hey, you're awake. 'Good Morning', even though it's still nighttime y'know," she chuckled turning back to the wound she had been working on. Grimmjow hissed in pain at the stinging sensation of what Orihime was doing(since he didn't really know WHAT she was doing, only that she was doing it), but he didn't complain. He _did_ have a sense of honor and he knew that one should not complain in a situation like this.

"I thought you'd leave me for dead, woman," muttered Grimmjow. Orihime frowned at him in a way that was almost comical.

"Of course not! I'm a better person than that, Grimmjow-san. I wouldn't leave the person who just saved my life for dead, even if it meant I could escape," proclaimed Orihime, bandaging his wound. She then smiled softly and said,

"I'm an idiot, I can't believe I haven't said this yet..." Orihime then looked Grimmjow in the eye and murmured,

"Thank you, Grimmjow-san, for saving my life." Grimmjow blinked owlishly at her, but then he looked away with a very light blush and muttered,

"You're welcome."

_*~*~*_

_Well, that's it. Hope you enjoyed, long reviews appreciated._


	6. Hollow

_*~*~*_

Almost everyone in Karakura had logically retired for the night that snowy evening, but this was apparently not the case for three men still in the bar, the two younger men sitting across from the older man. Ichigo and Keigo were on the one side of the table, while on the other was a rather stoic looking man with slicked-back brown hair, brown eyes, and a 'vibe' of creepy-ness. This was Sousuke Aizen, and he ran the madhouse that was not too far from Karakura. There were rumors about the man being insane himself, but nobody was sure except for Aizen.

"I don't normally leave the asylum in the middle of the night and I hope you understand this, Kurosaki-san," said Aizen, sounding both bored and a little bit irritated at the same time. Ichigo smirked and responded,

"I can assure you that I can make this worth your while..." Aizen raised an eyebrow and allowed himself to smirk, but that smirk fell as he muttered,

"We'll see about that."

"It's like this; I've got my heart set on marrying Orihime Inoue, but the girl needs some... _persuasion,_" began Ichigo, his smirk turning back into that small grin he had when he first got the idea to do this. Keigo then laughed and added,

"Turned him down flat!" Before he could go on however Ichigo whapped Keigo on the back of the head.

"Everybody knows that Sora Inoue's out of his mind! He was in here tonight ranting about a beast having Orihime locked away in some castle!" scoffed Ichigo.

"Sora is harmless," stated Aizen simply.

"Yes, but the thing is that Orihime would do _anything _and _everything _to keep her brother from being locked up," continued Ichigo, grinning full on by this point. Keigo was about to make an ass of Ichigo again, but Ichigo smacked the boy's head on the table and knocked him out.

"So, let's see if I have this right... You want me to throw Sora Inoue into the asylum unless Orihime agrees to marry you. That is just despicable, Kurosaki-san..." said Aizen, shaking his head. Then, the man grinned himself and looked Ichigo straight in the eye.

"Keep whatever money you might've given me, I'll do _this _for free." he hissed.

Meanwhile, Sora Inoue leaned against Unohana's window with a forlorn look, Kon sitting at his feet and staring up at him. Unohana had insisted that he stay with her until his injuries healed and he wasn't sick anymore, and that had been working out rather well so far. Moreover, Kon insisted on not being far away from Sora, so he was there too. Unohana and Ukitake had actually _believed _him when he told them about the beast taking his sister, probably because they knew him well enough to know that he A: was not a lunatic and B: doesn't know how to lie. However, he hadn't been allowed to go after her because Unohana and Ukitake told him that they needed a strategy before going up against a beast. Sora clenched his fist against the window, his face a steely mask of determination.

_I'm sorry Retsu-san, Jushiro-san. I have to get my sister back and I won't let anything stop me! _thought Sora. With that, he quietly snuck out of the house, Kon on his heels and being just as sneaky. They didn't even bother with preparing for the journey; instead they just set off down the road out of Karakura, hell bent on freeing Orihime.

Only a few minutes afterwards, both Ichigo and Keigo had arrived at Sora and Orihime's home. Ichigo searched the house up and down, but Sora and Orihime were not there. As he walked back out with something of a frown, Keigo shrugged and said,

"Weeeell, guess they're not here! What a shame guess we'd better go home-" Keigo didn't get to finish because Ichigo knocked him over and snapped,

"Keigo, you stay _right there _until they come back, do you hear me?" Keigo nodded sadly and sat cross-legged, watching Ichigo walk away.

_*~*~*_

That morning, Orihime was taking a walk along the snowy castle grounds. Because her yukata would help her with freezing to death and it had blood on it, Orihime had relented and let Momo dress her in the blue kimono she would've worn for dinner last night, just as long as she could have her Yukata back afterwards. Grimmjow, Urahara, Tatsuki and Byakuya watched her from the balcony of the west wing (which was no longer forbidden to Orihime since she had already been up there and it would be pointless now to keep her away from something she already somewhat knew about), Grimmjow leaning on the balcony with the lower part of his face hidden behind his folded arms.

Orihime paused near the back entrance, but was almost knocked over by the lizard dog running out into the snow, barking excitedly as it jumped into a snowdrift. After shaking off the snow, the lizard tore over to Orihime who smiled and caught him expertly, immediately scratching around the back of his mask and making the lizard wag it's tail double time. Grimmjow's eyes drifted away from this scene and to one off the bandages on his arm, immediately reminded of Orihime's words that last night.

_"I'm a better person than that, Grimmjow-san. I wouldn't leave the person who just saved my life for dead, even if it meant I could escape," _Grimmjow suddenly was quite glad that his forearms were covering his cheeks because he could feel them burning right now. Then, he remembered how horrible he had felt when he made her run away, and how his normal excitement in battle had been accompanied by a fierce, protective feeling...

_I've never felt this way about anyone before... _he thought, his eyes widening slightly at this realization.

"... I want to do something for her..." he murmured, this only just being heard by his servants who all gave him a shocked look.

"_Whoa_, you're seriously going to make an attempt? We didn't tell him to do this did we?" wondered Tatsuki, flabbergasted(and rather happy as well). Urahara grinned and replied,

"No, we didn't, Tatsuki-chan. Break out the champagne for this momentous occasion!"

"Actually, I think Nnoitra is spiking it right now so that probably isn't the best course of action," mentioned Byakuya. The three arrancar were brought back to the situation at hand by an impatient finger snapping from Grimmjow.

"Yeah, that's nice, but I still do need help! I don't really know what to do," said Grimmjow, half-glaring at his servants. Byakuya shrugged and responded,

"Well, there're the usual things like flowers, chocolates, promises you won't keep-" This was interrupted by Tatsuki Urahara AND Grimmjow all smacking him on the back of the head.

"Dumbass! I'm not doing that clichéd bullshit!" snapped Grimmjow, folding his arms over his chest.

"Ah, so you're still you after all," sighed Urahara with a wistful lilt in his voice.

"Anyways, you have the right idea sir. You need to do something personal for her, something unique... Wait! I've got it! I know just what you should do!" exclaimed Tatsuki. Minutes later, Grimmjow and Orihime were walking side by side down the hall, Orihime looking confused but happy and Grimmjow grinning his trademarked grin in anticipation. Orihime allowed herself a smirk, no longer did that grin remind her of Ichigo. Now it was all Grimmjow, and she would never be able to mistake it.

"Grimmjow, where are we going?" asked Orihime. She wasn't used to not using honorifics when it came to people other than her brother and Kon, but Grimmjow had insisted she didn't use any and it wasn't that bad not using them. Grimmjow turned his grin to her, then turned back ahead and replied in a cryptic fashion she wasn't used to,

"It's a surprise, woman." Orihime rolled her eyes, still smiling, and murmured,

"Surprises and me don't really mix too well." Right as she was remembering the time she had punched a man in the face because he called out to her from behind and it was about to warp into a surreal daydream, Orihime and Grimmjow stopped in front of large wooden door. Grimmjow semi-turned to her and said,

"Go on in." Orihime blinked a few times, a little perplexed by these events unfolding before her, but she gave Grimmjow a smirk and said,

"Is anything going to eat me behind there?" Grimmjow chuckled, but did not respond with words. Instead, he pushed the door open with his foot- not bothering to take his paws out of the 'pockets' of his Hakama- in a fashion that made it look like he was kicking it open. Orihime gasped in delight at the spectacle before her, for she was gazing upon the largest collection of books she had ever seen. Shelves went up each wall and ended at the ceiling, various catwalks snaked across the upper levels with spiral staircases leading to them, and in the middle of the room was a fireplace that was currently not lit. In addition to the giant shelves were giant windows as well.

"Wow... I've never seen so many books in my entire lifetime! Ukitake-san would love this place..." marveled Orihime, her large eyes sparkling with joy. Grimmjow's grin toned itself down and he said,

"I knew y'd like it, an' that's why it's yours now." Orihime gasped again and turned to Grimmjow with a surprised expression.

"Mine? Really?" echoed Orihime, not quite believing it.

"Yep, nobody else would use it anyways," he responded, his grin coming back. Orihime beamed at him and exclaimed,

"Thank you so much, Grimmjow!" At the doorway, Tatsuki, Urahara, Yoruichi, Byakuya, and Neliel were all watching this unfold, all but Byakuya smiling. And even he was smirking imperceptibly.

"Heh, looks like we don't have to take care of the hard part after all! My idea was perfect," boasted Tatsuki.

"We're not done yet, they're still not all the way there," mentioned Urahara.

"But this is encouraging, you gotta admit," noted Neliel.

Late that afternoon, around sunset, Orihime leaned on the balcony of the West Wing with a worried expression. Grimmjow had left about an hour ago, saying something about Hollows and murder, and Orihime was concerned. After all, he had just been quite injured protecting her from those beasts twenty-four hours ago, who _knows _what might happen to him? She could hear the anguished death cries of Gillian's and normal Hollows along with Grimmjow's own roars and it chilled her to the bone. Though Grimmjow had been quite a bit nicer to her today and was seeming to control his temper, she could not deny that he seemed to like battle. A _lot_. Soon, all was silent in the forest and Tatsuki walked up to her.

"Tatsuki-chan... What just happened?" wondered Orihime.

"Grimmjow-sama always goes out and kills all the Gillian's he can find around this time. Then he kills a bunch of basic Hollows and brings them back to eat if we're out of the ones he killed before," explained Tatsuki. Orihime's eyes widened and she echoed,

"He _eats _Hollows?" Tatsuki nodded and Orihime shuddered. But then she smiled and said,

"I guess he's always going to be a bit of a savage."

"But you can change him, Orihime-chan!" suggested Tatsuki with a hopeful smile.

"I know I can, but... I still want him to be him," muttered Orihime cryptically. She then turned to Tatsuki with a larger smile and said,

"Well, dinner's going to be soon and I can't let Nel start without me! See you downstairs Tatsuki-chan! Maybe I can figure out what to do with that Hollow meat..." Tatsuki bit her lip, wondering just what this meant...

That next morning, at breakfast, Orihime leaned over Grimmjow's shoulder(instead of sitting with her own weird breakfast at the other side of the table); giving the Hollow carcass he was about to eat a quizzical and disgusted look. Grimmjow gave her a quizzical look of his own while trying to keep down a blush from Orihime's close proximity to him and her hands on his shoulders. Once again Orihime had allowed Momo to give her another kimono to wear, and today it was white with a black obi and black accents on it.

"So you eat Hollows for _every _meal?" asked Orihime, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, basically," replied Grimmjow.

"And you eat a lot like an animal, right?" she queried further.

"Woman, I may look kinda human but I _am _still a beast y'know," noted Grimmjow, narrowing his eyes somewhat.

"Oh no I don't care that you eat that way, it's just that it doesn't really look that good..." noted Orihime, wrinkling her nose. Grimmjow grinned and responded,

"Don't knock it 'till you try it woman." Orihime's eyebrows shot up and she wondered,

"Raw?"

"Cooking Hollow meat is the worst mistake you will ever make in your life," mentioned Neliel, sticking her head in before returning to the kitchen. Orihime hesitantly tore a small piece of the Hollow's flesh away from the corpse of the Hollow- mentally being amazed by how easy it was to do that- and cautiously chewed the tender meat. Grimmjow watched her with an expectant smirk, one part of him begging for when she would be amazed by how good it tasted and the other(smaller) part of him remarking that she looked cute when she ate like that. After Orihime swallowed, she furrowed her brow in thought, then said,

"Alright, that tasted _really really _good, but I have weird taste in food so the jury's still out." Grimmjow let out a laugh, making Orihime smile as well.

"You think we can share during dinner?" asked Orihime expectantly. Grimmjow chuckled once more and replied,

"Sure, woman, but don't take all of it."

_*~*~*_

_Well, that's it. Hope you enjoyed, long reviews appreciated._


	7. Failure

_*~*~*_

"_Damn _it's cold out here!" snapped Grimmjow with a slight shiver. Orihime chuckled and said,

"That's what you get for only wearing a Hakama all the time, Grimmjow." She was amazed with herself and how easily calling him by his name without an honorific was coming to her, but then again they were getting closer(though Grimmjow was still calling her 'woman', but she hardly minded that anymore).

"So why're you out here anyways woman?" wondered Grimmjow, stuffing his hands into the 'pockets' of his Hakama. Orihime smiled wider and replied,

"Well, there are a bunch of little birds out here-" she paused to point at said birds with the hand that wasn't drawn to her chest in a clenched fist- "and I decided when I saw them that I was going to feed them!" Grimmjow blinked at her owlishly and asked,

"Why?"

"Because it's a nice thing to do! I mean, birds sing for us all day long so it's only fair that we give them some food in return," explained Orihime, giving him a look like she had just had to explain something really _really _obvious to someone.

"Yeah, I'm sure that made sense somewhere..." he muttered under his breath. Orihime didn't seem to catch on because she simply smiled again and turned back to the birds, throwing some seed she had brought out with her to them. They ate it up greedily, twittering what seemed to be a sound of gratitude to Orihime. Then Grimmjow had the sudden impulse to scratch the back of his head nervously and ask,

"Uhr, could I try that?" Orihime stared at him in shock before laughing and replying,

"Oh really? _You _want to feed the birds?" Then Orihime said in a comically deep voice, "_Grimmjow Jaegurjaquez! Beast, slayer of Gillian's, eater of Hollow's and feeder of cute little birds!_" Grimmjow frowned at her as she laughed, but when she finished laughing Orihime walked over to Grimmjow, maneuvered his paws so that they were open and out, then put a little bit of seed in them. Orihime then stepped back and said,

"Go ahead, try it!" Grimmjow stared at her for a minute, then he basically sat on the ground with his hands still open and waited absolutely still... well, except for his tail, which kept whipping around behind him like an angry, impatient snake. Orihime frowned at his tail, but right as she gently grabbed it to keep it still, Grimmjow jumped suddenly, letting out a small yelp(though it didn't sound like a painful yelp...). He then turned to Orihime, his facial expression very hard to read for someone like Orihime and said face entirely red, and said through gritted teeth,

"PLEASE don't do that again, woman." She was about to tell him that she wouldn't have to if he kept it still because it was scaring off the birds, when the two of them noticed something. A daring yellow bird was eating out of Grimmjow's paws. Orihime leaned over Grimmjow's shoulder to get a closer look at this phenomenon, the both of them wearing identical faces of surprise. Then, Grimmjow turned to Orihime and grinned.

Orihime had to try to hold down a blush, because for some reason right then Grimmjow looked _absolutely adorable_. Orihime never thought she'd use that alliterative phrase to describe Grimmjow until she used it and was very _very _confused by the fact she had. She turned away from Grimmjow as her face turned entirely red. What was going on with her? Sure he was changing into a kinder person, but was she changing too? Orihime had never felt this way before in her life. She had felt similar when she had a crush on Ichigo, though. This was different than that, for she remembered the butterflies that inhabited her stomach well. These were full on _falcons _trying to escape her abdomen right now.

Grimmjow himself was having his own kind of crisis. What was that look she had just given him? He had seen it a few times before(Neliel to Nnoitra when he wasn't looking, Yoruichi to Urahara when she was feeling particularly good that day, Hanatarou to Rukia on occasion), and he knew what it meant... No, impossible. Even though they could be called friends at this point, Orihime was still beautiful and he was still a monster... that was currently being overwhelmed by birds. He must have misinterpreted it. That was the only explanation.

Suddenly he was struck in the face by a snowball. Grimmjow whipped his head around to where Orihime stood giggling, then he grinned and said,

"You want a snowball fight? You're getting a snowball _WAR_ woman!" Grimmjow then gathered all the snow he could hold in his paws, packed it into a misshapen orb and flung it at the redhead. Orihime's eyes widened as she dodged the massive snowball Grimmjow chucked her way, but she still grinned. She let out a giddy laugh and made another snowball, chucking it at Grimmjow. He destroyed it with his tail and hit Orihime point blank with his next one. Orihime gasped comically and exclaimed, retaining her smile,

"You just hit a girl, Grimmjow! This means war!" As their snowball fight 'heated up', Byakuya Tatsuki and Urahara were _once again _watching from a nearby window. Tatsuki laughed and said,

"Yep, the hard part is _definitely _not up to us here!"

"I'm just surprised that they really didn't need our help too much," commented Byakuya with the first real smile he had sported in a while.

"Yep, I expected to be doing all the hard work myself, heh heh," chuckled Urahara. Later, while Orihime was reading a book in the library with the fire roaring behind her and Grimmjow reading over her shoulder, the three aforementioned servants along with Neliel, Yoruichi, and Nnoitra were watching them.

"You're right Tatsuki-chan, there's definitely something there," purred Neliel with a fond smile. Nnoitra blinked in confusion and wondered,

"What's there?" Yoruichi ignored him and agreed,

"Nel's right, sparks are definitely flying!"

"From the fireplace? Seriously, what the hell are you guys talking about?" asked Nnoitra. Tatsuki gave him an annoyed glance and commented,

"For someone who talks about sex constantly, you sure don't know very much about love." Nnoitra rolled his eyes and scoffed, about to make a derogatory comment about love, but Neliel elbowed him in the gut and said to the others(like she HADN'T just elbowed Nnoitra in the stomach),

"I think we should do something special for those two tonight..." Urahara then grinned and said,

"I know _just _what you're sayin' Nel."

_*~*~*_

After a few days more of Orihime and Grimmjow getting even closer, Orihime stared at herself in the mirror with an uncomfortable expression as Momo continually adjusted the furisode she had shoved Orihime into(never being quite satisfied), Yoruichi continually did, undid, and redid her hair, trying to get the perfect look, and another servant she had only just met named Cirucci Thunderwitch was obsessively doing and redoing her makeup. Orihime's hairpins were resting on a nearby table because Yoruichi promised her that she would put them back in and make them look twice as good. Orihime never really did feel comfortable when those weren't in... To add to Orihime's discomfort, she didn't exactly know _why _Momo, Yoruichi and Cirucci were suddenly dressing her nice and messing with her hair and face! One second she had been reading with Grimmjow looking over her shoulder, and the next the two of them were being dragged in different directions with no idea of what was happening.

"Uhrm, what's going on?" asked Orihime, confused beyond all reason.

"It's a surprise!" snapped the three female arrancar in unison. Orihime sighed and closed her eyes, preparing herself to go into a daydream to escape this, when she felt the decisive pull of an obi being tied around her middle and she heard Yoruichi exclaim,

"Of course! Simpler things have _always _looked best on you Orihime-chan, simpler hair should work too!"

"I couldn't agree with you more Yoruichi-chan, flashy makeup just isn't working for this girl," concurred Cirucci. In a couple minutes, Yoruichi was putting Orihime's hairpins back in their rightful place and she could feel Cirucci decisively finishing off her lipstick.

"You can open your eyes Orihime-chan!" chirped Momo. Orihime did so, and her eyes widened when she saw her appearance. The majority of her hair was pinned back behind her_(A/N: Think how it was in the Soul Society, except all of her hair except her bangs is up)_, while her bangs remained like they always did. Accenting her eyes was some light gray-blue eye shadow that one could barely see but made Orihime's eyes all the more noticeable(like she needed any help with that), and on her lips was pale pink lipstick. She also had a bit of blush on her cheeks. The furisode was a rich crimson with flower designs in gold on it, whilst the obi was also gold and had designs in shimmering colors she had never seen until today and did not have a name for.

Now, Orihime _finally _knew what everyone was talking about. She could finally agree when people commented on her looks, because the woman in the mirror, her reflection, the reflection of Orihime Inoue... was _beautiful_.

"Wow..." she breathed, unable to sum up her feelings towards this in any other way. Momo, Yoruichi, and Cirucci all grinned triumphantly and hi-fived at Orihime's reaction, now even more proud of their 'work'.

Meanwhile, Grimmjow had escaped those trying to make him look presentable and was now glaring at them from across the room.

"Lemme get this straight then, you guys want this to be the night that the woman falls for me- 'cause the rose and I are pretty damn close to dying- so you're doin' all this romantic crap to get me to confess?" asked Grimmjow, his hands on his hips in an almost feminine manner.

"Yep! You got it!" chirped Urahara with a grin. Grimmjow rolled his eyes and grunted,

"I'll go along with this stupid plan-type-thing, but I'm not telling her how I feel ya got that?" Urahara's eyes widened and he wondered,

"But why? You care about her, why not tell her that?" Grimmjow looked away with an expression that was hard to read and muttered,

"It's complicated." In truth, Grimmjow himself was still not convinced that Orihime could even remotely have romantic feelings for him. Not even for the sake of breaking the curse was he thinking optimistically.

"Well, it doesn't matter! She'll fall for you anyways!" stated Urahara energetically. Tatsuki then stepped into the room with a soft smile, pointed over her shoulder with her thumb in the direction of the door and said simply,

"She's waiting for you." Grimmjow blinked once, then stuffed his paws in the 'pockets' of his Hakama and walked out. Orihime was waiting where the two main staircases met and she smiled up at Grimmjow as he ambled down the stairs and over to her. He had to force down his blush when he saw her, instead scratching the back of his head and muttering,

"Now I feel like a fucking idiot for not doing anything..." Orihime giggled into the sleeve of her furisode before beaming at Grimmjow and responding,

"It's alright, you wouldn't be you if you got all dressed up just for me. By the way... how do I look?" Grimmjow blinked owlishly at the sudden question, but he then looked away, his blush rebelliously sneaking onto his cheeks as he replied,

"Y' look nice..." Orihime beamed brighter and took his paw in her dainty hand, leading the two of them down the main staircase.

"By the way, do you know what's going on?" she asked with a slight sweat-drop.

"Not a clue," responded Grimmjow with a shrug. She shrugged as well, but the two of them let out cries of surprise when Tatsuki and Urahara came up from behind them and shoved them smack dab into the middle of the ballroom. As the two of them regained their bearings and Grimmjow was about to go and murder the two arrancar for that, the two of them could hear a violin beginning to play. Immediately Orihime's eyes lit up as she heard the music. The redhead grabbed Grimmjow's paw and she exclaimed,

"Come on, Grimmjow, let's dance!" Grimmjow's eyes widened and his pupils shrunk to tiny dots and he echoed in a small voice,

"Dance?" Orihime laughed and maneuvered his hands so that one was on her waist and another holding her own, while her other hand rested on his shoulder.

"You know how to do this, right?" she asked with a sly smile. He then grinned- a rather softer grin than normal, Orihime noticed, but still his own grin- and said,

"Woman, prepare to be out-danced." Orihime laughed, and the two of them started to dance. Orihime was genuinely surprised quite early in, for Grimmjow was a much better dancer than she was. Around the beginning of their spontaneously planned out dance, Orihime would trip over her own feet or the skirt of her furisode, falling against Grimmjow and letting out a semi-embarrassed, semi-giddy laugh every time. She found herself blushing the second time this happened and the blush didn't go away even when their dance started to gain some semblance of fluidity. She could tell around the middle that Grimmjow himself was even enjoying this, especially when Orihime started to lean her head on his chest and they slowed down.

This dance lasted only a little over twenty-five minutes, and when they stopped dancing, Orihime almost unconsciously wandered out to the large balcony off the ballroom. Grimmjow followed her out, but didn't go all the way next to her, for Orihime was right at the edge, leaning against the rail and staring out at the night sky with a thoughtful look. The servants who had been watching(you know the ones) craned their necks and strained their ears to make sure that they didn't miss a minute of Grimmjow and Orihime's interaction without following them and making the moment awkward.

Orihime and Grimmjow stood there in silence, Orihime observing the outside world while Grimmjow observed her from the back. The hair that was pinned up on the back of her head blew lightly in the breeze whilst her long bangs would sway to the far left with every rush of wind before settling calmly back into place in front of her shoulders. Her skirt and long sleeves would also billow in the wind, but the knot of her obi would only budge slightly. As he watched Orihime do nothing and act like a part of the scenery, he suddenly felt the urge to ask her something...

"Orihime...?" he said, not moving from where he stood. Orihime turned to him with large eyes widened before smiling slightly and noting,

"That's the first time you've called me by my name, Grimmjow..." He smiled a little before asking with a slight nervous tone in his voice,

"'re you... happy here?" Orihime smiled more and replied almost instantly,

"Yes, I am... But... I just wish I could see my brother again, only for a little bit. I miss him so much..." Grimmjow blinked once. That was all? He could easily show Orihime her brother again! Grimmjow then grinned and gestured back inside with his head, saying,

"Follow me, I know how you can see him again." Orihime visibly brightened as she rushed over to him, begging non-verbally for him to show her Sora. He took her by the hand again and led her back inside, through the ballroom, through more various halls and up to the West Wing. When they were there, Grimmjow took the magic mirror from its place beside the dying rose and handed it to Orihime, who raised an eyebrow at it.

"It'll show you whatever you wanna see," he explained briefly with a rather proud grin. Orihime brightened again, then said hesitantly to the mirror,

"Please... show me my brother." With a surge of green energy around the frame, the mirror's surface instantly changed from Orihime's beautiful reflection to Sora, dragging himself across the snow covered ground and shaking with violent coughs every few seconds. Kon was barking at him frantically, trying to drag him back with all of his strength. Orihime's eyes widened in shock and she exclaimed,

"Sora! Oh no... He's sick... He might even be dying! Oh god..." As Orihime put a hand to her mouth to keep something down- she didn't quite know what since this was only reflex- Grimmjow looked from Orihime to the wilting rose and back again with a conflicted look. Finally, Orihime's own pain overwhelmed his desire to keep that rose from losing any more precious petals. Grimmjow looked away from both Orihime and the rose with a tortured look and he murmured,

"Then you have to go to him." Orihime immediately turned to him with a look of shock and bewilderment.

"What...?" she whispered

"He needs you more... You're no longer my prisoner. You can go..." explained Grimmjow, making sure not to make eye contact with Orihime. Orihime then smiled, tears of joy pricking at the corners of her eyes and threatening to run free. Suddenly, her arms were wrapped tightly around Grimmjow's torso and her face was pressed into his chest. Grimmjow's eyes widened, but he shut them again, remembering that she was only hugging him out of gratitude.

"Thank you... Thank you for realizing he needs me, thank you for everything, Grimmjow," said Orihime, drawing away and clasping on of Grimmjow's paws in her own hands. Grimmjow didn't say anything except,

"Take the mirror with you when you leave... So you can look back..." Orihime smiled at him again and, gently taking the mirror, left the West Wing with her step now propelled by hope and happiness. The servants- all getting out of Orihime's way before doing this- all walked into the West Wing with their jaws slack in shock.

"Sir... How could you do that?!" cried Neliel.

"I had to," he replied simply, his voice much softer than normal.

"But _why?!_" pressed Yoruichi.

"... Because I love her..." responded Grimmjow in what was barely a whisper but was still clear as day to the arrancar. They all exchanged melancholy glances, but they did not press Grimmjow further and simply walked out of the room to discuss it themselves. In minutes, Grimmjow could see Orihime rushing across the bridge, now back in her green yukata with her hair down and her old cloak around her shoulders. The mirror was still held tightly in her left hand. Just noticing this was enough to make Grimmjow's face contort, as if he was going to cry. However, instead of crying, he let out an anguished roar that he knew she could hear even from beyond the gates.

_*~*~*_

_Well, that's it. Hope you enjoyed, long reviews appreciated._


	8. Prosecution

_*~*~*_

Orihime sighed with relief as her and Sora's home came into view. She had been walking with Sora supported by one of her shoulders, Kon running alongside her, for quite some time and she was tired as hell but still worried for her brother's health. In fact, she had wrapped her cloak around him before setting off, exposing herself in her yukata (highly inappropriate for the weather, as one would guess) to the elements.

Right as she was about a meter or so away from the boundaries of the forest, she spotted Unohana and Ukitake running her way from the path to her home. Orihime looked at them with a surprised expression as they came up to her and was too shocked to say a thing as Unohana took Sora from her and carried him to the house herself while Ukitake did likewise with Orihime. Both of them were silent, though they had worried expressions, until they were inside the house. All of them were too preoccupied, however, to see Keigo shake off the snow that had piled on top of him, shiver as he smiled and whisper,

"Ehehehe, they're back!" Keigo then took off towards Karakura like a bat out of hell.

Back in Orihime and Sora's home, Unohana was tending to Sora and had insisted Orihime not do anything until she was warm again and Unohana could determine if she was sick or not. Orihime had Ukitake's haori wrapped around her like a blanket and she was huddling against the older man for warmth. Both Unohana and Ukitake questioned her about Grimmjow and she had answered each question either with a straight answer or through showing things to them through the mirror. Yes, Orihime had not forgotten it. She had simply tucked it into the inner part of her kimono when she had slung Sora over her shoulder. Something felt slightly blasphemous to Orihime about losing the mirror...

Unohana and Ukitake also blew Orihime away. They were being kind to her and Sora without asking for anything in return, they actually _believed _her and her brother when she knew nobody else would, and it made Orihime almost want to cry. She finally knew that she and her brother weren't completely alone here in Karakura and she didn't know what kind of comparison to make for her happiness and relief. However, Orihime did feel a nagging feeling of loss whenever her thoughts drifted back to Grimmjow. She knew she had made the right decision... but...

Around midnight, after Unohana had determined Orihime healthy, Sora was starting to wake up. Orihime rushed to his side, all thoughts of Grimmjow and the two people here with her and her brother cast aside for the moment. When Sora was almost all the way back to consciousness, he noticed his sister.

"Orihime..." He hoarsely whispered. Orihime smiled at him and said,

"It's alright now, Sora, I'm home." Suddenly Sora was hugging her tightly, and Orihime hugged him back.

"I thought I'd lost you..." he said, trying to hold back tears. Orihime gave him a squeeze before letting him go and saying,

"Well, I'm here now, and I've missed you so much." Sora smiled, before he knitted his eyebrows together and wondered,

"But... the beast, how did you escape?" Orihime shook her head and replied,

"I didn't escape, he let me go..." Sora made a confused face, and Orihime explained,

"He's not that horrible beast that imprisoned you, anymore, Sora. He's changed, now he's nicer, at least to me anyways."

"I find that hard to believe Orihime..." murmured Sora.

"It's the truth, we could vouch for her," mentioned Ukitake, walking up beside Orihime.

"Well then again Jushiro-kun, she _did _give us a more in depth explanation..." commented Unohana with a knowing smirk. Suddenly there was a knock on the frame of their screen. Unohana, Ukitake, Orihime, and Kon all exchanged glances, but Orihime was ultimately the one who walked up and opened the screen. Her eyebrows shot up, for grinning a grin that bordered on lecherous in front of her was Sousuke Aizen.

"A- Aizen-san..." whispered Orihime. She knew full well what he did and didn't need him to tell her why he was there, especially with almost half the village there wielding torches and/or pitchforks. But he said it anyways.

"Good evening Orihime-san. I've come for Sora," announced Aizen with a smirk. Orihime glared at him and snapped,

"Sora isn't crazy!"

"He was raving like a lunatic! We all heard him, didn't we?" called Keigo. Orihime noticed his speech was still impeded by the broken nose he had, but that hardly mattered now. The villagers gave a rallying chorus of 'yeah' and other ways to basically confirm what Keigo just said. Orihime furrowed her brow, for if Keigo was here then Ichigo had to be as well. In fact, he was leaning on the side of the house, _almost _out of view.

"No! I won't let you do this!" shouted Orihime, stepping out into the open. Sora had fought past both Unohana and Ukitake and had followed her to the doorway. Keigo took notice of Sora and grinned.

"Oi! Sora! How big was the beast again?" asked Keigo mockingly, the crowd laughing before Sora could even speak.

"Seven feet or more, I haven't decided yet..." he muttered just loud enough that it could be heard. More laughter erupted from the villagers as Sora weakly tried to tell them it was true. Orihime bit her lip, should she tell them about Grimmjow and risk his safety for her brother, or should she stay quiet...? Aizen smirked and snapped his fingers, signaling to his two lackeys Gin and Tousen to grab Sora by the arms and start dragging him away.

"No! You can't do this!" pleaded Orihime, but Aizen paid her no heed. Suddenly, her waist was being held captive by Ichigo, who was currently drawling in a falsely sympathetic tone,

"Oh, poor _poor _Orihime-chan! _So _sorry about your brother." Orihime was desperate now, so she turned to Ichigo and asked frantically,

"Kurosaki-san, you know he's not crazy, right?" Ichigo smirked, that was just what he wanted to hear.

"I _might _be able to clear this up, if..." he was interrupted by an impatient Orihime.

"If what?" she wondered, dread in her voice.

"_If... _you marry me," Ichigo finished with his normal haughty grin. Orihime's eyes widened to twice their size and she whispered,

"That's... what... this... is... about...?" Her teeth were clenched tightly and so were her fists as she said this, horrible rage building up in her that she wasn't used to. Suddenly, from out of the blue, Orihime noticed Ichigo's grin more explicitly than ever before. She felt horrible right then for _ever _comparing Grimmjow's grin to his, for even thinking of the comparison! Grimmjow was a much better man than the one before her, and he wasn't even human! Then she had the urge for violence. Normally, Orihime would've just ignored it and given him a tongue lashing, but now...

Orihime punched Ichigo square in the face with all of her strength, pushing Ichigo away and eliciting gasps and looks of surprise from everyone... except for Ukitake and Unohana (who had just come out of her home), who were both smirking triumphantly at that.

"I WILL NEVER MARRY YOU, DO YOU HEAR ME?!?! NEVER!! YOU ARE A FOUL, DESPICABLE CREATURE WHO DOESN'T DESERVE ME AND WON'T EVER DESERVE ME!!" yelled Orihime, flushing out the rest of her rage but still feeling the stinging burn of hatred afterwards. Ichigo frowned after he recovered from the shock and snarled,

"Fine, have it your way." He started to stalk off, and as he did Ukitake handed Orihime the mirror.

"You'll have to show them," he whispered, sounding like he didn't like the idea too much himself. Orihime nodded hesitantly and thought,

_I'm so sorry Grimmjow. _She then turned to the mob and shouted,

"My brother isn't insane and I can prove it!" Ichigo turned, confused now. Orihime then looked at the mirror and said,

"Show me Grimmjow..." She turned the mirror outwards when the reflection changed to Grimmjow mid-roar. She then winced. _Probably _not the best thing to show them right now, when they were already thirsty for blood... The villagers gasped and Ichigo's eyebrows shot up. Keigo hid behind him with a fearful yelp.

"It's a monster!" a villager cried.

"He has to be vicious!" shouted another.

"No, it's not like that! He's- He's-" Orihime bit her lip again. She couldn't vouch for him like that. Even though he was nice to her, his daily Gillian slaughter fest reminded her that he was still a monster and he _was _vicious. Suddenly Ichigo grabbed her shoulder and wondered incredulously,

"Why are you trying to _defend _that monster?!" Orihime glared at him and drew away from Ichigo.

"He isn't a monster Kurosaki-san... _You're _the monster!" she exclaimed. Ichigo gave her a smoldering glare, then turned to the villagers with his sword off what he used to hold it and declared,

"She's just as crazy as her brother! That beast will make off with your children, he'll come after us in the night! We're not safe until we kill him!" More rallying cries drowned out anything Orihime might've said in the defense of herself and Grimmjow. As the mob was rallied by Ichigo's assumptions, Orihime shouted,

"I won't let you do this!" Sora then broke free of those restraining him, ran to stand even with his sister, and also exclaimed,

"Neither will I!" Ukitake and Unohana soon joined them with similar 'expressions' of defiance. Kon ran and stood even with the four humans, growling angrily.

"If you aren't with us then you're against us!" announced Ichigo with a glare. Orihime and Ukitake both sweat-dropped and said,

"We already said we were against you..." Ichigo ignored them, but then Orihime felt the tip of a sword poking her back. She looked over her shoulder and there was Aizen with a serious expression, sword in hand. Gin and Tousen were on the other sides of the group, also pointing their swords towards them.

"We'll keep them here," said Aizen coolly. Ichigo grinned, then lead the mob away and in the direction of the castle(via someone who knew where it was telling him). Once they were gone, however, Ukitake knocked the sword out of Aizen's hands swiftly and grabbed it himself, stabbing the man through the heart and killing him instantly. Orihime was so caught up with this that when she turned back around Unohana seemed to have killed both Gin and Tousen without even touching them. She tried to ask Sora- who had seen the whole thing- what the older woman had done, but he said that it was beyond description.

"Come on, if we're going to save this Grimmjow, we have to move quickly," stated Ukitake in a serious tone. Unohana nodded in agreement and so did Orihime.

"Is Sora up for this though?" she wondered. Unohana smiled and said,

"He's helping his beloved little sister, of course he will be." Sora grinned and nodded in agreement. Orihime beamed at both Ukitake and Unohana, and the four humans and one lion-dog followed far behind the mob as a thunderstorm began to rage...

_*~*~*_

"We'd have done better without her!" declared Byakuya obstinately, trying to convince the others of this and hide the fact that he was only doing this to convince himself. Byakuya, Tatsuki, Urahara, Yoruichi, Nnoitra and Neliel were all sitting in a room near the West Wing, bored and depressed since not only was there nothing to do but they felt incredibly cheated. They had put every ounce of effort into everything they had done to try and further progress Grimmjow and Orihime's relationship, and Grimmjow had just let her go! All the servants were surprised that he'd let their ticket back to humanity go, but Tatsuki, Urahara, Byakuya, Yoruichi, Nnoitra and Neliel- the ones that had been front and center for the whole affair and seen everything happen in real time- had all been even more shocked. He had _said _that he loved her! How did that make his letting her go logical at all?!?!

"Quit tryin' to convince yourself Byakuya, you wish she was back too," sighed Tatsuki, half-heartedly walking over and punching Byakuya on the arm. He let out a sigh of defeat, and Yoruichi exclaimed,

"Ugh! I'd be able to deal with this better if we only had something to _do_! It'd get my mind off of this..." Urahara looked at the others over his shoulder from where he stood at the window and he responded,

"Yoruichi, I _think _we may just have your distraction coming up the bridge with a battering ram." The arrancar all rushed to the window and their eyes widened at the sight. In the brewing thunderstorm, they could make out about a score or two of people rushing down the bridge, the majority of them holding a battering ram made from a tree. Two people seemed to be leading them, but they could make out nothing specific besides the fact that one of them had orange hair a few shades lighter than Orihime's.

"Invaders!" exclaimed Yoruichi, half-alarmed and half-excited.

"I'll alert Grimmjow-sama, you guys hold them off!" called Tatsuki, tearing out of the room and up to the West Wing as she did. Urahara smirked and seemed to produce a sword from nowhere, saying as he did,

"Look's like we all get to fight again! _Finally_." The other servants produced weapons from the depths of hammerspace and walked out of the room, ready to kick some ass. Meanwhile, Tatsuki had just made it to the West Wing to find Grimmjow still leaning on the balcony.

"Sir, the castle-" she began, before Grimmjow gave her what could pass for a glare with enough imagination and muttered,

"I'm not blind Arisawa, I can see them from here." Tatsuki bit her lip and looked down before turning to Grimmjow again with a worried expression and asking with an almost hysterical tone,

"What are we going to do Grimmjow?!" Grimmjow turned away from her and all was relatively silent for about three minutes.

"... Just let 'em come," he then replied. Tatsuki's eyes widened and she exclaimed,

"But- Sir-!!"

"Arisawa!" snapped Grimmjow, turning and glaring at her for real. Tatsuki tensed and got ready to bolt at that. The glare then disappeared into an enigmatic expression as Grimmjow muttered,

"You can see the rose, can't you?" Tatsuki gulped, she hadn't wanted to acknowledge the rose but now it seemed like she had to. When she did, Tatsuki swallowed a gasp as her eyes widened; the petals still on the flower were down to about eight, the eighth petal just barely hanging on. She looked away as Grimmjow continued,

"If I give in and wait for that last damn petal, I'll be dead in an hour or so. I was gonna do that since I was feelin' fuckin' depressed, but now since I have a choice I'd rather get killed by a person than by a curse." Tatsuki turned to glare at Grimmjow and hissed,

"You call that 'not giving in'?"

"In a way, I guess," he replied with a weak shrug. Tatsuki gripped the doorframe and bit her lip, trying to keep down her rage. This only worked for about five minutes, since after that period she snapped her head back up to look Grimmjow in the eye with a fierce look of determination on her face.

"Well, my definition of giving in is doing what you're doing _Grimmjow-sama_. And I won't give in. I'm going to fight to protect this castle and all the people I care about who live here and I won't let you stop me or anyone else stop me!" She then turned on her heel and ran down the hall to the foyer, dead set on helping with the fight. Grimmjow watched her go with a surprised expression, then he smirked sadly and thought,

_You're a stronger person than I am I guess, Tatsuki Arisawa..._

_*~*~*_

_Well, that's it. Hope you enjoyed, long reviews appreciated._


	9. Break

_*~*~*_

With a mighty smash, the Karakura villagers broke through the doors of the castle and into the foyer. It didn't seem to be well lit, and it was almost completely empty except for a black cat that was lounging on the bottom step of the main staircase. It opened one eye in acknowledgment of the villagers, but simply yawned and went back to napping. The villagers surveyed the room with skeptical looks, but Ichigo was not convinced. He gave the villagers a silent signal to stay behind and breezed through the room, up the stairs and down one of the halls, set on finding his 'prey'. The villagers promptly dropped the battering ram and one complained,

"Great, _he _gets to go fight a monster while we're stuck here with a black cat! I came here for a fight, not to wait!" All the men jumped however when an amused male voice came from the cat, saying,

"Oh, so you've come for blood have you?"

The cat then morphed into Yoruichi as the lights in the foyer came up, revealing a good amount of the servants all wielding swords. Some of them looked like regular Japanese swords whilst good amounts were in the forms of other blades(like Nnoitra's that looked like a strange double-bladed scythe... ish). However, the one thing that most of them had in common was either a smirk or a grin or the maniacal variety. Urahara stood at the top of the stairs, and after exposing his grin to the invaders(he had been looking at the ground in a badass fashion) he said simply,

"Great. So have we." Then, without warning, the battle-deprived servants pounced on the villagers who did their best to fight back. They were outmatched though, even though they outnumbered the arrancar. As Urahara and Yoruichi fought back to back, Yoruichi called,

"Looks like you've still got it Kisuke~!" Urahara laughed and said,

"I may be rusty but I ain't out of it!" Meanwhile, Neliel had been driven into a corner but was managing, killing off any of the men who tried to ambush her. However, even she could be caught off guard, and this was proven as she turned around and was too slow to block a man who was aiming to cut her in half from behind with his own sword. But she didn't have to block. His head was quickly removed from his neck by Nnoitra who grinned when he saw Nellie's surprised expression.

"Looks like you owe me 'thanks for saving my life' sex!" trilled Nnoitra in a singsong voice. However, he himself was caught off guard by Neliel immediately jumping at him, wrapping her arms around his neck to catch herself, bringing her face level with his and kissing him forcefully on the lips. When she broke away, Neliel beamed at Nnoitra and exclaimed,

"I'll be happy to give you that, Nnoitra!" She was about to move onto another enemy, but she had to keep dumbstruck Nnoitra from being cut in half whilst he stared into space in shock. The battle only went on for a little while longer, and soon the arrancar stood victorious, the only surviving humans being Keigo- who had stealthily followed Ichigo- and Ichigo, who was searching for Grimmjow still. In fact, Ichigo had made it to the West Wing and was already pretty sure that this was the realm of the beast. His thoughts were confirmed when he reached Grimmjow's domain and saw him leaning on the rail of the balcony, getting pelted by the rain and looking pretty bored.

"I'm right in guessin' that you're here to kill me?" wondered Grimmjow, not sounding all that interested. Ichigo smirked, brandished his large sword and replied,

"How'd you guess?" Grimmjow raised an eyebrow and deadpanned,

"You're not very subtle." He then grinned half-heartedly and said,

"Show me what ya got, _strawberry._" Ichigo let out a savage bark of a laugh and immediately lunged at Grimmjow, sword poised to impale him. His target leapt out of the way and onto the roof, taunting him with his evasion. This did not get Ichigo off his tail, because in minutes Grimmjow was no longer tauntingly running from Ichigo. Instead, he was running for the last hour of life he had left. He ducked around a part of the roof that could hide him, but he winced as he heard Ichigo call,

"What's the matter?! Weren't we going to _fight_?! Or are we now just playing cat and mouse, beast?" Grimmjow immediately thought of Tatsuki's words and thought,

_No, we aren't fighting, 'cause I'm pathetic... _Suddenly, Grimmjow let out a gasp as Ichigo's shoulder collided with his gut, knocking the wind out of him and causing him to skid to the edge of the roof. Ichigo stomped on his chest when he caught up and held his sword above Grimmjow's chest in a way that suggested he was going to impale Grimmjow. A flash of lightning illuminated Ichigo's savage grin, and then the orange haired man who was now also soaked to the bone with rain let out a long maniacal laugh.

_You wanted to be killed by a human instead of that curse, so you got your wish, _he thought to himself.

"_GRIMMJOW!!!_" Grimmjow's eyes widened and he leaned his head over the edge of the roof. Had his ears deceived him, made him believe that Orihime had just called his name out in a voice shrill with alarm and worry? No! They hadn't! For standing there on the bridge with her brother, her dog, and two people Grimmjow didn't recognize was Orihime, fear alarm and panic all evident on her soaking, beautiful face.

"Orihime...? She came back..." he breathed, so low that Ichigo wouldn't hear it. Ichigo also noticed this, but instead the man snorted,

"Aizen Gin and Tousen are useless! I should've locked those four up somehow..." Grimmjow turned his eyes back to Ichigo as Ichigo's attention was directed back at him, and then he grinned his trademarked grin. Ichigo's expression turned from one of sadistic triumph to one that could only be summarized by the two words he was thinking right now: Oh. _Crap_. Grimmjow's arm shot out and he wrapped his paw tightly around Ichigo's neck, lifting the human off him so that he could stand and bring his savage expression to level with Ichigo's horrified face.

"Alright, you showed me what little you had _human. _Now it's my turn," hissed Grimmjow. Immediately Grimmjow kicked Ichigo in the gut, sending him flying back the way they had came. Grimmjow pounced after him and, while Ichigo was in midair, scratched Ichigo across the chest with his claws. Ichigo landed back on the balcony of the West Wing and so did Grimmjow, right as Orihime got there. Grimmjow paid her no mind and continued to beat upon Ichigo who could only block with his sword some of the time. Grimmjow drove Ichigo towards the edge of the roof, clawing at him, punching him and even biting him once. Once Ichigo was at the edge of the roof, Grimmjow grabbed him by the throat and held him over the edge, his grin having gone completely savage and maniacal. When Ichigo saw that he was about to be dropped, he started pleading for his life.

"Oh- God- _PLEASE _DON'T KILL ME!!" begged Ichigo pathetically. Grimmjow's eyes widened at this, and he scoffed right after. Grimmjow dropped Ichigo carelessly on the roof beside him and snorted,

"You're pathetic, not even worth killing. And that's saying something, coming from me. I'd suggest jumping off the roof yourself, the world doesn't need _shit _like you walking around." Grimmjow then turned without another word and began to climb back up the roof to Orihime, who was staring at him in shock from the West Wing's balcony. She smiled as he came nearer to her, and he smiled back at her. She held out her delicate hand to him, and Grimmjow took it in his larger paw. Orihime's face immediately flushed pink, and for once she actually knew why. She pulled him to stand 'even' with her, the two of them on opposite sides of the railing but feeling like they were much closer than that. Grimmjow, without really noticing that he was doing it, caressed Orihime's face gently with the paw she wasn't holding as he said,

"Idiot, I set you free... You didn't have to come back." Orihime smiled and put her hand on Grimmjow's other paw as she murmured,

"I know. I came back because I wanted to." Grimmjow smiled wider, but suddenly he roared in pain as he felt something stab his side. Both Grimmjow and Orihime looked over Grimmjow's shoulder and were shocked to see Ichigo, his face a horrific visage of sadistic glee, stabbing Grimmjow in the side with the tip of his sword. Grimmjow fell against Orihime, a paw clenched over his wound to try to stop the bleeding and Orihime's own face was frozen in cold terror.

Ichigo began to giggle like a madman when he saw blood leaking from between Grimmjow's 'fingers', and right as he was illuminated by another flash of lightning that giggling turned into psychotic, blood-curdling laughter. He was too busy laughing however to notice Grimmjow glare at him with eyes full of murder, and he was still laughing even as Grimmjow beheaded him with the strongest blow to the head Orihime had ever seen. Ichigo's head, now forever frozen mid-laugh, his body and his sword all tumbled off of the roof and down to the abyss below, disappearing from view before it could be confirmed whether it had landed down there or not.

Grimmjow was losing his strength quick, not being able to stay standing. He collapsed against Orihime once more, and she carefully got him over the railing and laid him on the floor of the balcony(on his back so that she could see his face). The servants who had seen everything so far had been rushing out there, but had stopped at the threshold in shock. Keigo, who had been there to see Ichigo's beheading, was slumped on his knees in the threshold, a traumatized expression on his face. Sora, Ukitake and Unohana had just arrived and were more confused than shocked. Orihime was unable to stop her tears this time, but they were indistinguishable from the rain.

"Oh God... Grimmjow, this is all my fault! If I hadn't have left, if I had gotten here sooner..." she started to ramble frantically, but Grimmjow's paw on her face again quieted her. He smiled weakly at her and said just as weakly,

"T's alright... I'm just... happy that I got t' see you again once..." Orihime's eyes widened and she exclaimed,

"No! Don't talk like that, you'll be alright I know it! I- I-" Orihime was unable to finish, for Grimmjow's hand had fallen away now and his head had lolled to the side, his expression the same as it had been. Her eyes tripled in size and she simply stared at Grimmjow's lifeless face in shock.

"No... No! Please, please don't leave me Grimmjow... p-please..." Orihime was once more unable to continue, this time due to breaking into sobs against Grimmjow's chest. However, she was able to choke out quiet enough so that only she and those deceased that night could hear,

"I love you..." Nearby, the servants were all consumed with shock and grief. Tatsuki's tears were refusing to stop and she was regretting everything she had and hadn't done. Urahara and Yoruichi were both trying to hold back tears. Neliel and Nnoitra were numb with shock. Nothing seemed to be going through Byakuya's mind, and for the first time he truly looked like he had never known emotion. Right then, the last petal fell from the rose...

"Well now, I'm going to need some help calling this one." Everyone turned, and leaning on the table that held the now dead rose was the most beautiful woman Orihime had ever seen in her life. She had long blonde hair that contrasted her bright green eyes and tan skin, a bust that rivaled Neliel's, and the collar of her shirt covered the bottom of her face. The eyes of every servant widened. The sorceress Halibel, the one who had put this horrible curse on them, was standing _right there. _She then turned to Keigo and said,

"You weren't emotionally invested in this moment. Did Orihime say 'I love you' _before _the last petal fell or afterwards?"

"Before..." numbly replied Keigo. Halibel seemed to smirk behind her collar and she said,

"That clinches it." The arrancar sorceress then tapped the jar that held the rose, and the rose and it's fallen petals dissolved instantly into nothingness with a subtle flash of green. The servants also flashed a subtle green, and their markings and bones were gone, along with the white and black outfits they wore. They were now wearing what they wore when the curse was put upon them, and for most of them this was traditional Japanese clothing.

Orihime was confused, but she became even more confused when, in a flash of subtle green light, Grimmjow also changed. His entire body was now human, not just from his chest to his head, his hair was now _much _shorter and rather spiky-ish, he had human ears(and weird teal facial markings around the edges of his eyes), and there wasn't hole in his stomach nor a wound where Ichigo had fatally stabbed him. Orihime drew back as Grimmjow's eyes slowly opened, and once he regained his bearings he sat up straight in shock. He immediately looked at his hands(front _and _back, one must be sure), ran a hand through his hair to see how far back it went, poked one of his ears, looked down at his stomach, then back at his hand. Orihime knitted her eyebrows together at this very strange display, and because she wasn't sure that she was still looking at Grimmjow...

But after about a minute of him staring at his own hand, he grinned. That wonderfully arrogant, haughty grin. The one she could never mistake and the one she had fallen in love with. Grimmjow then looked over at her, laughed a bit, and said,

"Oh come on Orihime, I'm not _that _different am I?" Orihime blinked a bit so that she could organize her thoughts, then she beamed at him, shook her head, and responded,

"No, you haven't changed a bit." And with that, Orihime passionately kissed Grimmjow on the lips and he eagerly returned it with twice her fervor but the same amount of love. Halibel smirked wider and said,

"Took him long enough." She then walked away as Orihime, Grimmjow, the servants, Sora, Ukitake and Unohana all grouped together to talk about where they would go from here. As they did, the rain clouds disappeared and the sun rose over the horizon, a perfect background for the beginning...

_*~*~*_

_Well, that's it. Hope you enjoyed, long reviews appreciated._


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